USD Rallies on Trade Deal Optimism
AUD
The Aussie Dollar opens a little lower across the board, with a minor correction seen after Wednesday's boost in the aftermath of higher-than-expected domestic inflation. The ASX gained 0.2% yesterday and SHANGHAI COMP seeing the opposite effect with a negative 0.2% movement. Commodities also coming in mixed with the biggest movers being CRUDE OIL experiencing 1.5% growth and on the flip side ICE NAT GAS dropping by 0.9%. Yesterday, the Goods Trade Balance doubled expectations at 6.9B. Today, we will have an early look at some vital consumer spending data with Retail Sales m/m forecasted at 0.4%.
USD
The AUDUSD opens lower at 0.6387 with the USD rallying on continued trade deal optimism, with Trump recently indicating 'potential' trade deals with India, South Korea and Japan are coming, with a very good chance of reaching an agreement with China as well. US equities seeing some growth with the S&P 500 increasing by 0.6% but the biggest mover being NASDAQ seeing a 1.5% increase. Overnight, Unemployment Claims were higher than expected, with 241k claims in the past week. Tonight, we will see the Average Hourly Earnings m/m, Non-Farm Employment Change and Unemployment Rate being released. The April jobs report will be closely watched to see the immediate impact of Trump/s April 2 tariff announcement. Expectations are that hiring slowed and unemployment held steady at 4.2%.
EUR
The AUDEUR opens up slightly lower at 0.5654, not seeing too much of a change with a quiet Thursday yesterday due to France, Germany and Italy having a bank holiday. We did see some positive movement in Euro equities with DAX increasing by 0.3% and CAC by 0.5%. Tonight, we'll see CPI Flash Estimates for the Eurozone. Stronger than expected Eurozone CPI should boost expectations of the European Central Bank holding rates. Markets are currently expecting 2 to 3 interest rate cuts from the ECB by year-end.
GBP
The AUDGDP opens slightly lower at 0.4807 after an insignificant day of data with the most notable being Net Lending to Individuals m/m, more than doubling the forecasted amount coming in at 13.8B. British equities also lackluster with no change at all, FTSE closing flat. This quiet trend will continue into the weekend with no data being released and Monday being a bank holiday for the UK (May Day).
NZD
The AUDNZD opens flat at 1.0802 with the only noise coming from Building Consent m/m resulting in 9.6% growth. No data for the remainder of the week.