AUD Holds Steady Ahead of Key US Jobs Data

AUD

AUD is slightly down across the board, after riding a global stock rally reaching yearly to multi-year highs. Locally the ASX 200 finished slightly lower, led by losses in healthcare and financials at -1.8% and -1.1% respectively. Asian equities finished positively with the Nikkei trading +2.3%, Hang Seng +0.5% and the Shenzhen +0.1%. Yesterday the Westpac Consumer Sentiment was released coming in at -2.6%, an average fall following cash rate rises is typically -3.8%.Today we will have RBA Deputy Gov Hauser speaking about the domestic and global economic outlook and RBA’s monetary policy strategy. Out of China there will be CPI y/y and PPI y/y released as well as M2 Money Supply y/y.

USD

AUDUSD opens slightly down at 0.7074 following overnight data indicating slower growth in the U.S. economy. A mixed session on Wall St. saw the Dow Jones trading +.2%, the S&P 500 -.1%, and the Nasdaq -.3%. U.S. December retail sales came in unchanged MoM, missing estimates of +0.4% with weakness in furniture and clothing driving the miss. The weak data saw the USD trade lower against other majors. Tonight, the big data points will be Average Hourly Earnings m/m, Non-Farm Employment Change and Unemployment Rate, expected at 0.3%, 66k and 4.4%. White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Monday that U.S. job gains could be lower in the coming months due to slower labor force growth and higher productivity.

EUR

AUDEUR opens flat at 0.5947 this morning. European equities closed with narrow losses, with the DAX -0.1%, CAC 0.1% and the Euro Stoxx 100 -0.2%. A very quiet week for the Eurozone with todays only data points being Italian Industrial Production m/m and German 30-y Bond Auction.
 

GBP

AUDGBP opens flat at 0.5186, with the FTSE closing down -0.3%. There has been no data released this week and today being the same. Tomorrow will be a big day for economic data in the UK with GDP m/m, Prelim GDP q/q and Goods Trade Balance.

NZD

AUDNZD opens very slightly down at 1.1705, a very quiet week all round for the NZD data wise until this Friday with Inflation Expectations q/q, Visitor Arrivals m/m and BusinessNZ Manufacturing Index to be released.