DAILY CURRENCY OUTLOOK

* Aussie opens the week lower

* Focus on RBA and Fed speeches. Also a big week for economic data

* Covid case numbers in China cause for concern

The AUD/USD opens the week nearly ½ cent lower from Friday’s Sydney close of 0.6765 as we gear up for a big week ahead. Higher Covid case numbers in China and civil unrest in some major cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, were considered largely to blame for the sell-off of the Aussie over the weekend. Against all the other major currency pairs (excluding the CNY), the AUD is also down slightly.

This week, however, the focus again turns to the RBA and US Federal Reserve, with both the RBA Governor Philip Lowe (Friday) and US Fed Chairman Jerome Powell (Thursday) giving speeches. Expect more of the same, i.e. “we will do what is necessary to contain inflation” however markets will look for any change in commentary (be it a word or phrase) and buy or sell the currencies accordingly. To add to the mix, there is a wealth of tier 1 economic data this week, starting with Australian Retail Sales for October today and local inflation numbers on Wednesday, followed by US GDP numbers (also Wednesday) and the highly scrutinised US Nonfarm Payrolls (Employment) for November. It could be a very interesting week for global markets.