Fed Uncertain of Interest Rate Cut Timing

AUD

The Aussie dollar opens lower across the board while the ASX ended yesterday's session down -1.4%, the Nikkei down -0.2% and Shanghai Comp up 0.2%. Commodities also did not fare any better, all closing in the red with Copper down -0.2%, Iron Ore down -0.9%, Silver down a whopping -2.7%, and Gold down -1%. No Aussie news set for release today, however we have the Caixin Services PMI out of China to be released at 12:45pm with an expected forecast to show further industry expansion. The next major domestic release will be Aussie Retail Sales on Tuesday.
 

USD

The AUDUSD opens lower this morning at 0.6728 after the US dollar corrected sharply higher in yesterday's session. US Equities all closed in the red with the Dow down -0.6%, S&P 500 down -0.4%, and the Nasdaq down -1%. Fed Officials concluded in December that interest rate cuts are likely in 2024, although recent Fed Meeting Minutes indicate a high level of uncertainty over how, or if, that will happen. The U.S. manufacturing sector contracted further in December, although the pace of decline has slowed, The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said on Wednesday after its manufacturing PMI increased to 47.4 last month after being unchanged at 46.7 for two straight months. It was the 14th consecutive month that the PMI has stayed below 50, being the longest such stretch in 20y. At the same time, U.S. job openings fell for the third straight month in November.

Tonight, we have ADP Non-Farm Employment Change with expectations pointing to an increase in employment growth, and also the Unemployment Claims which is expected to show a decrease in claims made.

EUR

The AUDEUR opens slightly lower at 0.6162 this morning, after yesterday’s better-than-expected Eurozone employment data with Spanish Unemployment Change coming through -27.4K from the forecast -15.7K, and German Unemployment change coming through at 5K from the expected 20K. Eurozone equities however both closed in the red with the DAX down -1.4%, and the CAC down -1.6%. Later today we'll see Final PMI data for the Eurozone, as well as possibly the tentative release of German Preliminary CPI m/m.
 

GBP

The AUDGBP opens lower this morning at 0.5305. Looking to the British Equities, the FTSE was red into the close, down -0.5%. We have some news out of the UK set for release tonight with Final Services PMI, M4 Money Supply m/m, Mortgage Approvals and Net Lending to Individuals m/m.
 

NZD

The AUDNZD opens lower this morning at 1.0775 after losing its 1.08 handle yesterday. All quiet from our Kiwi neighbors for the rest of the week with no news set for release.