Aussie Dollar Angsty Ahead of US Data Dump

AUD

The AUD opens the day mixed against the majors, despite Aussie Wage Price Index q/q printing at 0.8%. This figure was stable compared to the previous quarter and met market economist expectations. Locally the ASX 200 shed by a quarter of a percent, with financials and utilities leading losses at -1.2% and -0.5%. Asian equities finished the day mixed, the Nikkei and Hang Seng down -0.3%, while the Shenzhen gained +0.4%. Tomorrow we have Aussie Flash Manufacturing PMI & Flash Services PMI to be released. Looking ahead, locally there is not much Major data upcoming, and for our key Asian trading partners there is nothing major until mid-next week where we are due for our first complete monthly CPI release.

USD

AUDUSD opens lower by about 0.5% at 0.6472, following the release of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) Minutes. The minutes revealed a less uniformly dovish stance among policymakers than expected, signaling continued internal divisions regarding the necessity and timing of future easing. This tone caused market participants to scale back their immediate expectations for a December interest rate cut, reinforcing the 'higher-for-longer' narrative for US rates and providing strong fundamental support for the USD against its major currency counterparts. A relatively subdued session on Wall St. saw the Nasdaq trading +0.3%, the S&P 500 -0.1%, and the Dow Jones -0.3% entering the final hours of the North American session.  Looking ahead overnight we have the release of the well overdue September jobs report. Heading into the weekend we are set for non-farm employment change where its due to print at 53k jobs added.
 

EUR

AUD EUR opens flat at 0.5614 after trading sideways between for about the last week. The Eurozone had their Current Account come out at 23.1B, better than forecast of 15.9B. They also had their core CPI y/y print in line with expectations. Equity markets saw the DAX down 0.1% and the CAC down 0.2%. However tomorrow night we have German Flash Manufacturing PMI and services PMI which could impact FX markets if we see a big miss.
 

GBP

AUDGBP opens slightly up from yesterday at 0.4961 following the release of their CPI y/y. The figure printed at 3.6%, just above expectations of 3.5%. Crucially, the moderation in the closely watched core inflation (excluding food and energy) and services inflation has led markets to increase bets on the Bank of England resuming interest rate cuts in December, causing the GBP to weaken slightly against major currencies overnight. Tonight, we have CBI Industrial Order Expectations which are forecasted to print at -33. The FTSE also fell 0.5%.
 

NZD

AUDNZD Opens up by almost 0.5% at 1.1557. Yesterday they had PPI Input q/q which was missed expectations of 0.9%, printing at 0.2%. Tomorrow morning, they have the Trade Balance out where it is expected to fall to -955M.