Macro Data Dries Up into Weekend
AUD
The Aussie dollar seeing another mixed session opening close to flat or down against the majority of its peers. Aside from the release of local quarterly Private Capital Expenditure figures yesterday which printed below expectations at -0.3%, the lack of any tier 1 news coming out both locally and in China meant most Aussie pairs continued to drift sideways. Local equities also performed poorly with ASX down 0.7% with all sectors driving the fall besides tech. Asian equities also finished lower, with the Hang Seng down 0.27% and Nikkei -0.27%. Commodities however fared better with Iron Ore & Copper closing up 1.7% & 0.2% respectively. Looking ahead, local Retail Sales for the month will be the only news to spur market movement going into the weekend. The lack of any meaningful news until the release of quarterly GDP on Wednesday may allow the slew of US news released tonight to move the Aussie (see below).
USD
AUDUSD opening close to flat this morning at 0.7096, recovering some losses after it dipped to 0.7057 yesterday afternoon. There was a slew of mixed data released by the US yesterday which was kicked off with US Q1 GDP which was unexpectedly revised down to -1.5% from -1.4%, Personal Consumption was revised up from 2.7% to 3.1% with expectations of 2.8% while Core PCE was revised down to 5.1% from 5.2%. Weekly Unemployment Claims were mixed with initial claims coming in slightly lower than expected at 210k while continuing claims were higher than expected at 1.346 mio. Later in the session April Pending Home Sales fell by 3.9% YoY and 11.5% YoY, weaker than expectations of -2.1% and -7.6% respectively. Despite the mixed news there was minimal response to the data & Wall St held onto a second day of gains with the NASDAQ closing up 2.7% & the S&P 500 up 1.8%. Looking ahead there is a slew of US data which will begin with a speech by FOMC member Bullard. This will be followed by Core Personal Consumption Expenditures figures for the month. This will be the only Tier 1 data which will be followed closely by releases in monthly Consumer Spending & Income figures & preliminary Wholesale Inventory figures to round out the session.
EUR
AUDEUR opening 20 pips lower, dipping briefly below 66c overnight before rebounding to 0.6613 this morning. Many European banks were on holiday yesterday and the lack of news provided markets little reason to move significantly. Onto global affairs and many European nations looked to start targeted monkeypox vaccinations amid reports of small outbreaks across the region. European equities found solid footing with the DAX & CAC both closing up close to 2%. Tonight, will see another quiet session data-wise with Annual Private Loans and Money Supply figures being the only pieces of data on offer. No doubt that the ongoing deadlock in Ukraine and the release of US news tonight may tag in and move markets.
GBP
AUDGBP opening flat this morning at 0.5630 after another relatively subdued overnight session. There was no data of note coming out of the UK yesterday however the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak announced a £600 stimulus payments for 8.4m households across the UK. UK Equities also saw minimal movement with the FTSE closing up a mere 0.6%. Looking ahead there is also no news of note therefore news out of the US tonight may have some residual impact on the Pound (see above).
NZD
AUDNZD is recovering from the aftereffects of the 0.5% RBNZ rate hike on Wednesday, opening at 1.0950 this morning. The lack of any NZ news allowed the pair to show some gradual recovery overnight outlining that the initial reaction to the rate hike is gradually being offset. There is no news of note being released tonight so markets may defer to US data to move currencies (see above).