* Aussie bounces back
* Focus turns to US data and Fed Reserve Minutes on Thursday
* Soccer World Cup: France 4 Australia 1, Saudi Arabia 2 Argentina 1
The AUD/USD opened this morning a touch higher from yesterday’s Sydney close of 0.6614, and against all the other major currency pairs (except the Kiwi), the Aussie is also a little higher. Overnight we saw a range of 0.6604 – 0.6651, with the bounce in the Aussie largely attributed to RBA Governor Philip Lowe’s speech last night at an Economic Development think-tank in Melbourne. Governor Lowe confirmed the need to keep raising interest rates to contain inflation and even suggested the need for a 50 basis point hike. Whether this happens when the RBA next meets on the 6 December or not was a green light for markets to buy up the Aussie. This was in stark contrast however to earlier in the week when the AUD/USD slipped back to 0.6580 after news out of China of several new Covid deaths and concerns that China may look to reimpose lockdowns. So watch this space.
Today the RBNZ is expected to increase their cash rate to 4.25% – hence a stronger Kiwi. The RBNZ does not meet again until Feb. 2023, so their hope is the 75 bps hike will help combat inflation over the summer.
| Economic Calendar: Mon 21st – Fri 25th November | |||||
| Day | AEDT | Event | Impact | Consensus | Previous |
| Mon | 12:15pm | CNY PBoC Interest Rate Decision | HIGH | 3.65% | 3.65% |
| Tue | 8:45am | NZD Trade Balance (YoY) (Oct) | Med | -$12.52B | -$11.95B |
| 6pm | AUD RBA Governor Philip Lowe speech | HIGH | Speech | ||
| Wed | 9am | AUD Manufacturing Purchasing Mgr Index (Nov) | Med | 52.4 | 52.7 |
| 12pm | NZD RBNZ Interest Rate Decision | HIGH | 4.25% | 3.5% | |
| 8:30pm | GBP Manufacturing Purchasing Mgr Index (Nov) | Med | 45.6 | 46.2 | |
| Thu | 12:30am | USD Durable Goods Orders (Oct) | HIGH | 0.4% | 0.4% |
| 12:30am | USD Initial Jobless Claims (Nov 18) | Med | 224K | 222K | |
| 12:30am | USD Nondefense Capital Goods Orders (Oct) | HIGH | 0.4% | -0.4% | |
| 6am | USD FOMC Minutes (from Nov 1-2 meeting) | HIGH | Report | ||
| Fri | 8:45am | NZD Retail Sales (QoQ) (Q3) | HIGH | -3.4% | -2.3% |
| 10:30am | JPY Tokyo Consumer Price Index (YoY) (Nov) | Med | 3.6% | 3.5% | |