* Aussie opens the week slightly lower against most major currencies
* Broad USD strength on the back of strong US job numbers
* RBA expected to hike by 0.25% Tuesday
| The AUD/USD opens this morning slightly down from Sydney’s Friday close of 0.6817, and against most major currency pairs, the Aussie is also lower. Better than expected US job numbers late Friday AEDT saw the greenback strengthen across the board. Further helping to push the AUD lower is a likely correction (as evidenced by the cross-rates) after the Aussie reached a 2½ month high against the USD last Thursday. Just over a month ago, on the 4th of November, the AUD/USD was trading at 0.6275. The stronger US jobs data showed 263K new jobs were added for November versus 200K expected and a fall in their underemployment rate (as opposed to the unemployment rate) – a measure many analysts consider a more accurate measure as it considers part-time workers and anyone looking for work in the last 12 months. These numbers are unlikely to change the recent tune of the US Federal Reserve (who next meet on 13-14 December), but with markets looking for any reason to buy or sell, this was enough. Attention now turns to tomorrow afternoon, when it is highly expected that the RBA will increase the cash rate to 3.10%. |
| Economic Calendar: Mon 5th – Fri 9th December | |||||
| Day | AEDT | Event | Impact | Consensus | Previous |
| Mon | 11am | AUD TD Securities Inflation (YoY) (Nov) | Med | – | 5.2% |
| 11:45am | CNY Caixin Services Purchasing Mgr Index (Nov) | Med | 48.8 | 48.4 | |
| 8pm | EUR Retail Sales (YoY) (Oct) | HIGH | 2.7% | -0.6% | |
| Tues | 1am | USD ISM Services Purchasing Mgr Index (Nov) | HIGH | 55.6 | 54.4 |
| 2:30pm | AUD RBA Interest Rate Decision | HIGH | 3.10% | 2.85% | |
| 11:30pm | USD Goods & Services Trade Balance (Oct) | Med | – | -$73.28B | |
| Wed | 11:30am | AUD Gross Domestic Product (QoQ) (Q3) | HIGH | 0.7% | 0.9% |
| 1pm | CNY Trade Balance USD (Nov) | Med | $87.87B | $85.15B | |
| 8pm | EUR Gross Domestic Product (YoY) (Q3) | HIGH | 2.1% | 2.1% | |
| Thu | 11:30am | AUD Trade Balance (MoM) (Oct) | HIGH | 10,723M | 12,444M |
| 11:30pm | USD Initial Jobless Claims (Dec 2) | Med | – | 225K | |
| Fri | 11:30am | CNY Consumer Price Index (YoY) (Nov) | HIGH | 1% | 2.1% |