DAILY CURRENCY OUTLOOK

* Aussie touches 68 cents this morning – an 11-week high

* Speech by US Fed Chair sets the tone

* Soccer World Cup: Australia 1 Denmark 0. Australia through to the knockout stage

Whether it was mixed US data, the Socceroos win over Denmark (which takes them to the knockout stage and a game against Argentina) or a speech by the US Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, the AUD/USD rallied sharply this morning to touch 0.6801, a level not seen since the 13^th of September. Maybe it was a combination of all 3 – but most likely the latter. In his speech, the Fed Chair defended the aggressive stance the Fed has taken this year but stressed, “we won’t try to crash the economy with further sharp increases just to get inflation under control faster”. With markets sensitive and looking for a short-term direction, the greenback was quickly sold as a result. Within an hour, from 5:30 am to 6:30 am, the Aussie climbed nearly 1 cent to 68 cents. This is in stark contrast to most of the week, where the Aussie has been relatively quiet, trading around 67 cents despite weaker than expected local Retail Sales for October on Monday and a lower CPI (inflation) YoY October reading on Wednesday – both sets of numbers giving the RBA an early Christmas present.  Next Tuesday’s RBA meeting and the Fed’s meeting the week after will now be eagerly anticipated.