AUD Consolidates Recent Gains
AUD
The Aussie Dollar starts the week opening higher across the board after global risk sentiment improved over the weekend. Asian equites closed off the week mixed with the ASX -1.4%, Shanghai Comp +1.2% and Nikkei +0.8%. Commodities were also mixed on Friday's close with Crude Oil +0.1%, Natural Gas -3.5%, Gold +0.2%, Copper +0.9%, Silver and Iron Ore -0.9%. A fairly quiet day on Friday for local data, with only Import Prices q/q missing forecasts of +0.1% at -1.8%, we also saw PPI q/q come in on par with previous readings of 0.9%. A quiet start to the week with no data out locally or out of China. Tomorow we will see it start to pick up with the release of Aussie Retail Sales m/m and Private Sector Credit m/m as well as Chinese Manufacturing Non-Manufacturing PMIs.
USD
The AUDUSD pair ticks higher again over the weekend, seeing new 2-and-a-half week highs of 0.6554 before dipping slightly to open this morning at 0.6537. Wall Street closed in the green on Friday with the Dow Jones +0.4%, S&P 500 +1% and Nasdaq +2.0%. On Friday evening we saw the Core PCE Price Index m/m print at 0.32%, being higher than the previous +0.27%. The difference may seem small on a month-on-month basis, but the implications for annual figures (which the Federal Reserve targets) produces inflation of 3.04% and 4.16% respectively. In this way, Friday's PCE figure backs the recent narrative of rate cut patience from the Fed. However, we also saw the University of Michigan Sentiment Survey for April which was revised down to 77.2 from an initial reading of 77.9. Inflation expectations were as expected or higher with 1 year revised up to 3.2% from 3.1% while 5-10 year matched expectations at 3.0%. A quiet start to the week with no data to be released until Tuesday’s Employment Cost Index q/q, S&P/CS Composite-20 HPI y/y and the Chicago PMI.
EUR
The AUDEUR reclaims the 0.61 handle hitting fresh 3-month highs of 0.6116 over the weekend before slightly retracing to open this morning at 0.6108. European equities were higher on Friday’s close with the DAX +1.4% and CAC +0.9%. Friday saw mixed results for Euro data with the Spanish Unemployment Rate missing forecasts of 11.8% coming in at 12.3%. Private Loans y/y fell from 0.3% to 0.2% and M3 Money Supply y/y beat expectations of 0.5% at 0.9%. Looking to the day ahead, we have the Spanish Flash CPI y/y and German Prelim CPI m/m which are both expected to gain 0.2%.
GBP
The AUDGBP also ticks higher over the weekend, touching new 3-and-a-half month highs of 0.5239 before opening this morning at 0.5226. British Equities closed higher on Friday with the FTSE gaining 0.8%. Not much out on the data front, as Friday only saw the GfK Consumer Confidence which came in marginally better than the expected -20 at -19. Again, no data out today for the Brits.
NZD
The AUDNZD pair starts the week at 10-month highs after briefly touching the 1.10 handle before opening this morning just shy at 1.0995. No data out Friday or today, with the next data release being Tuesday’s ANZ Business Confidence.