* AUD/USD touches fresh 3-month high early Saturday
* Markets gearing up for a big week
* Focus very much on US Fed Reserve
The AUD opens this morning slightly higher against most major currencies from Friday’s Sydney close. Against the USD, the Aussie traded in a narrow 50-point range however, early Saturday morning, a new 3-month high of 0.6812 was reached – this largely due to a softer greenback and higher commodity prices (Iron Ore, Australia’s highest export earner is at a 4-month high as it recovers from a historical two year low and increased demand from China). Today and tomorrow are expected to be quiet as we gear up for a BIG week.
Starting the ball rolling are US inflation numbers for November, due tomorrow night. These numbers come out in the middle of the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on 13-14 Dec., so anything unexpected could have a bearing on their rate decision due Thursday morning AEDT. Locally the RBA Governor Philip Lowe speaks tomorrow, and Thursday, we have our November job numbers. Both could influence the Aussie short term, but for any longer-term direction on currency markets, all eyes will be on the US Fed decision and announcement Thursday.
| Economic Calendar: Mon 12th – Fri 16th December | |||||
| Day | AEDT | Event | Impact | Consensus | Previous |
| Tues | 5pm | GBP Unemployment Rate (3M) (Oct) | HIGH | 3.6% | 3.6% |
| 11:30pm | USD CPI ex Food & Energy (YoY) (Nov) | HIGH | 6.4% | 6.3% | |
| Wed | 9:30am | AUD RBA Governor Lowe speech | HIGH | Speech | |
| 5pm | GBP CPI (YoY) (Nov) | HIGH | 11.5% | 11.1% | |
| Thu | 5am | USD Fed Interest Rate Decision | HIGH | – | 4.0% |
| 8:45am | NZD Gross Domestic Product (YoY) (Q3) | HIGH | 1.9% | 0.4% | |
| 11:30am | AUD Employment Change (Nov) | HIGH | 46.5K | 32.2K | |
| 11:30am | AUD Unemployment Rate (Nov) | HIGH | 3.3% | 3.4% | |
| 12:00pm | CNY Retail Sales (YoY) (Nov) | HIGH | 1% | -0.5% | |
| 10pm | GBP BoE Interest Rate Decision | HIGH | – | 3% | |
| 11:15pm | EUR ECB Interest Rate Decision | HIGH | – | 2% | |
| 11:30pm | USD Retail Sales (MoM) (Nov) | HIGH | -0.3% | 1.3% | |