NZD/USD consolidates around 0.7050 as focus shifts to US data

• NZD/USD stays relatively quiet after closing higher on Tuesday.
• USD shows some resilience against its rivals on Wednesday.
• Eyes on ADP Employment Change and ISM Manufacturing PMI data.

The NZD/USD pair gained 50 pips on Tuesday before going into a consolidation phase on Friday. As of writing, the pair was virtually unchanged on a daily basis at 0.7047.

DXY moves sideways above 92.50

In the absence of high-tier macroeconomic data releases from New Zealand on Wednesday, the sharp upsurge witnessed in the positively-correlated AUD/USD pair on strong GDP data helped NZD/USD edge modestly higher. Nevertheless, the pair struggled to gather bullish momentum with the USD selloff taking a break ahead of US data.

The US Dollar Index (DXY), which touched its lowest level since August 6 at 92.40 on Tuesday, is currently flat on the day at 92.64.

Later in the session, the Automatic Data Processing (ADP) Research Institute will publish the private sector employment data for August. Additionally, the ISM and the IHS Markit will release the Manufacturing PMI reports for August.

Previewing the ADP data, "the economic calendar is pointing to an increase of 613,000 private-sector jobs in August after only 330,000 in July," noted FXStreet analyst Yohay Elam. "That is a high bar to cross, increasing the chances of an under-delivery after overpromising." 

ADP NFP Quick Preview: Three reasons to expect a dollar downer.

In the meantime, Wall Street's main indexes remain on track to open in the positive territory with US stocks futures rising between 0.25% and 0.35%. A risk-positive market environment is likely to make it difficult for the USD to attract investors.

Technical levels to watch for