The Australian Dollar is still holding onto the massive gains it made against the Pound and the Euro last week and is currently continuing its’ rally on the GBP. Late Friday evening the AUD pushed up on the USD as well due to weaker than expected employment data out of the States.
North American Employment data was at the focal point Friday evening when both Canada and the US announced their official Unemployment Rate. Canada were targeting no change to the current level of 7.0%. This result was as expected, however the Net Change in Employment for the month of August was negative 11k instead of a positive reading of 10k as forecast. The States Change in Non Farm Payrolls reading for August was the biggest miss for quite some time, coming in at 142k, which was 88k less than the expectation of 230k. This caused Greenback to fall late last week as the Aussie approached the 0.94 mark.
The only economic release out of Australia today is low-tier data associated with Job Advertisements. The Chinese Trade Balance figure is due to be released today which will provide an insight into the import and export level of Australia’s major trading partner. Economists are forecasting a reduced figure of $45.0B for the month of August, a reduction from the previous months figure of $47.3B. A beat or miss on the economic forecast is likely to sway the Australians strength following the release.
On the domestic front tomorrow, Australia will release data relating to the percentage change to Home Loans and Investment Lending. Perhaps the more important economic indicator in influencing the AUD tomorrow will be the release of the NAB Business Confidence figure.
Tomorrow evening the UK will dominate the focus of economists’ and investors’ with a number of economic indicators made visible. The UK’s Trade Balance, Industrial Production and Manufacturing Production will be announced simultaneously early in the evening and the NIESR Gross Domestic Product Estimate will follow. Even though the GDP Estimate is just that, an estimate, a high reading is likely to provide strength to the Pound whilst a low printed figure is likely to cause vulnerability to the GBP.
Currently, the Australian Dollar is trading around a 2014 high against the Pound Sterling, Euro and New Zealand Dollar and with big gains made on the US Dollar last Friday, it appears as though the Aussie is the flavour of the month.