Daily Currency Update
The Australian dollar is slightly weaker this morning when valued against the Greenback. The Aussie Dollar touched a weekly low of 0.6289 last week against the Greenback courtesy of a risk-off sentiment even after the release of negative data from the United States. On the local front last week Australia’s Westpac Consumer Confidence showed that current buying conditions improved in October. The index rose 2.9% from the previous 1.5% decline in September. Australian Consumer Inflation Expectations for October have been reported at 4.8%, showing a slight increase from the September figure of 4.6%. Australia witnessed a rebound in inflation in August, largely driven by elevated oil prices. This resurgence raises the probability of another interest rate hike by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). With the ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East would continue to favor flows toward safe-haven assets, to the detriment of risk-perceived currencies, like the Aussie Dollar. The AUD/USD pair is currently trading around 63 US cents at the time of writing. Looking ahead this week in Australia there are no scheduled releases on Monday. The upcoming focal points this week include the release of Meeting Minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) on Tuesday and employment data on Thursday.
Key Movers
On Friday the US economic calendar recently featured the University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment, which deteriorated in October to 63 from last month 68.1 and missing estimates of 67.2. Inflation expectations for one year rose from 3.2% to 3.8%, while for five years jumped to 3% from 2.8%. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) disclosed that the Consumer Price Index in the US surpassed forecasts in September. The annual basis figures expanded at a consistent rate of 3.7%, slightly exceeding estimates of 3.6%. US Initial Jobless Claims for the week ending on October 6 showed a slight easing, despite an increase of 209K, which was slightly below the forecast of 210K. US Producer Price Index (PPI) surged in September on a yearly basis, jumping from 2.0% to 2.2%, surpassing the anticipated 1.6%. Core PPI experienced a rise, climbing to 2.7% from the anticipated easing to 2.3%, surpassing the earlier figure of 2.5%. Looking ahead this week US Retail Sales for September are forecast to see declines, from 0.6% to 0.2%, with Industrial Production for the same period seen similarly slipping from 0.4% to a scant 0.1%.
Expected Ranges
- AUD/USD: 0.6200 - 0.6400 ▼
- AUD/EUR: 0.5900 - 0.6100 ▼
- GBP/AUD: 1.9050 - 1.9250 ▲
- AUD/NZD: 1.0500 - 1.0700 ▼
- AUD/CAD: 0.8500 - 0.8700 ▼