Slow Data Day Ahead of Tomorrow's Global PMIs

AUD

The AUD opens mixed against the major currency pairs this morning, with the USD and NZD being the most volatile. Asian equities had little movement on Friday, with the Nikkei closing -0.04% and Hang Seng up +0.05%. The ASX closed flat on Friday but managed to lock in gains of 1.2% for the week. Commodities have closed mostly down, with Gold down -0.6% and Silver down -2.5% and Iron Ore closed slightly up 0.4%. Monday opens with little economic data on the calendar across most currencies. No domestic data from Australia at all. Eyes are on China today as we’re currently expecting both a 1-year and 4-year Loan Prime Rate to be lowered by 10 points. As a result of weaker housing sales in July, Chinese policymakers have to stabilize the struggling property sector by cutting mortgage rates. The local data kicks off tomorrow with Manufacturing and Services Flash PMIs.

USD

The AUDUSD opens lower this morning at 0.6875, the USD steadily advancing in the absence of economic data, driving AUD to 1 month lows. Wall St closed in the red across the board with the S&P500 down -1.3%, NASDAQ down -2.0% and the DOW down -0.9%. No economic data is being released out of the US today however a steady data flow will kick off tomorrow night with Manufacturing and Services PMIs. Later in the week, the main event is the Preliminary GDP q/q being released on Thursday, and the Fed's Gov Powell will speak on Friday at the Jackson Hole Symposium.

EUR

The AUDEUR opens slightly up at 0.6851 this morning, in lacklustre trade covering a range of just 31 pips. European equities had drifted lower with the DAX and CAC down -1.1% and -0.9% respectively. Friday's German PPI m/m was significantly stronger than expectations at +5.3% compared to market expectations of 0.7%, the highest monthly rise since 1949. This dramatic difference in expectations however did not have any significant affect on the currency however are a reminder to the ECB that inflation is not showing signs of easing in the EZ. No data of note tonight from Europe, however tomorrow sees the release of Manufacturing and Services PMIs and Thursday night we will get the ECB's Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes from their last meeting at which they raise interest rates by 50bps.

GBP

The AUDGBP opens strong this morning, opening up at 0.5815 after peaking at 0.5833. UK Equities were somewhat unchanged, with the FTSE up slightly at +0.1%. Although GBP is weakening, GBP data was strong on Friday as Retail Sales m/m was above expectations at 0.3% compared to expectations of -0.2%. On the other hand, Public Sector Net Borrowing was down a significant amount at 4.2B where markets were expecting 25.3B. No economic data is released today from the UK, however tomorrow Flash PMIs are released which is the main event for the GBP this week with other lowered tiered data scattered across the week.

NZD

The AUDNZD opens significantly stronger this morning, opening at 1.1132 which is 1 month highs. There was little resistance against the AUD as it climbed to the new 3 week highs. Friday morning's dramatically weak NZ Trade Balance was -1.092B compared to market expectations of +105M, putting its hand up as a good reason for NZD weakness, allowing the AUD to fly up the page. Today, no data is being released from NZD. This week is relatively quiet as well, with the only piece of data being released on Thursday being Retail Sales and Core Retail Sales.