This week the AUD will experience plenty of volatility as there are plenty of major releases and announcements due throughout the week for Australia.
The US economy late last week released their Revised Consumer Confidence figure; this also came back at a positive at 82.5%. This gave the USD some last minute buoyancy heading in to the weekend. Monday’s market open found the AUD/USD open slightly lower as Australasian investors reacted to this information.
Today, investors are expecting disappointing figures from Australia’s Company Operating Profits. This figure was released last quarter at 3.5% growth, this Quarter they are expecting -1.8%. A negative figure like this has not been seen since September last year, and should weaken the AUD if expectations are realized.
The next release is the figure that is always released on the first Tuesday of every month; this of course being the Australian Cash Rate Decision. For the last 12 months we have seen the figure sit on the figure of 2.5%. This month there are no expectations for the Cash Rate to change. The accompanying statement from the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), Glenn Stevens, is where the attention of analysts is directed.. Typically the themes of his announcements are bearish towards the AUD. This is mainly due the fact that the RBA thinks a lower valued Aussie dollar is what the Australian economy needs.
Wednesday we have the Australian quartile release of the Gross Domestic Product figure. This release is expected to be 0.4%; this is typical for the Australian economy as 24 month averages are around 0.4%-0.6%. Last Quarter the figure came in at 1.1%, this was an outstanding figure and very rare for the AUS economy.
By mid week, the AUD/USD pairing is expected to be slightly weaker as all releases are indicating weakness.