AUDUSD Unwinds Fortnight's Losses
AUD
The AUD has a mixed performance to start the week, with risk sentiment starting to shed with the pack peddling from the tariffs out of the USA. Commodities finished mostly up, with Crude Oil and Gold closing up 0.1%, Silver up 1% Natural Gas up 2.7% and Copper climbing 3.1%. Only Iron Ore saw a drop, closing down 0.4%. Asian Equities also finished the day up, with the ASX closing up 1.3%, and SHANGHAI COMP finishing up 0.8%. Chinese Trade Balance came out higher at 737b, expected to come in at 537b from 1220b. China’s exports jumped more than expected in March as businesses frontloaded outbound shipments to avoid prohibitive U.S. tariffs, while imports extended declines as sluggish domestic demand persisted. Locally, we have at 11:30am the Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes will be released; however, with the commentary being before the “Liberation Day” tariff announcements, their effects on the markets may be muted.
USD
The AUDUSD bursts through the 0.63 barrier yesterday afternoon, hitting a 10-day high of 0.6341, managing to fully re-trace the losses seen from the “Liberation Day” tariffs, opening this morning at a rate of 0.6323. Wall Street continued its recovery, with the DOW JONES and S&P 500 gaining 0.8%, and the NASDAQ gaining 0.6%. Yesterday saw the White House quietly retract tariffs on Chinese-made phones and computers, whilst promising that there will be a more specific tariff that will be placed on them. This has added to the uncertainty and poor faith in the USD, with many leaving the currency in favor for more stable economies, leading to sell offs of the USD. Fed Governor Waller spoke last night, mentioning that the tariffs will be “transitory”, adding to uncertainty markets are feeling around Tariffs. Tonight, we will see Retails Sales set to be released, with the m/m reading expected to increase 1.4% and the Core figure expected to rise to 0.4% from 0.3%.
EUR
The AUDEUR kept stable over the past 24 hours, with the pair keeping in a tight range yesterday, opening this morning at a rate of 0.5568. European equities had a red-hot day, with the DAX closing up 2.9% and the CAC closing up 2.4%. Yesterday saw ECOFIN meetings start, with no news to report as of yet. Tonight, we will see German ZEW Economic Sentiment set to be released, expected to drop to 10.6 from 51.6.
GBP
The AUDGBP sees a lackluster performance yesterday, with the pair sliding sideways to this morning’s open of 0.4795. The British equities had a strong finish yesterday, with the FTSE closing up 2.1%. Last night saw the release of the Rightmove HPI m/m, coming in higher at 1.4% from 1.1%. Today will see their Claimant Count Change at 4pm, expected to lower to 30.3k from 44.2k. We'll also see the Average Earnings Index and Unemployment Rate for the UK.
NZD
The AUDNZD sees a small sell off yesterday, with the pair keeping natural towards the night, opening this morning at 1.0761. FPI m/m came out higher this morning at 0.5%, previously at -0.5%. Tomorrow will see the GDT Price Index set to be released, with no set time, previously coming in at 1.1%.