* AUD/USD nears 70 cents
* Iron Ore at 7-month high; Gold at 9-month high
* Focus on local job numbers (Thurs) and US Retail Sales (Wed)
The AUD/USD rallied to another new 5-month high over the weekend, reaching 0.6994. Continued selling of the greenback following softer than expected US December Inflation numbers late last week has seen the USD fall sharply, especially against the JPY and EUR. Also helping to support the Aussie is Iron Ore (our largest exporter earner) is at a 7-month high, and Gold (also a major Australian export earner) is at a level not seen since April last year. With China set to receive the first shipment of Australian coal in February following a nearly 2-year ban, the AUD has started the year off strongly. Conversely, the USD is under the pump with the USD Index (DXY), an index that measures the value of the USD against a basket of major currencies (including the EUR, JPY, GBP & CHF) at a 10-month low. This week is a relatively quiet week data-wise but the greenback will be further tested late Wednesday with December Retail Sales, and locally we have the all-important Employment numbers Thursday.
| Economic Calendar: Mon 16th – Fri 23rd January | |||||
| Day | AEDT | Event | Impact | Consensus | Previous |
| Mon | 11am | AUD Consumer Inflation Expectations (Jan) | Med | 5.6% | 5.2% |
| Tues | midday | CNY Gross Domestic Product (YoY) (Q4) | HIGH | 1.8% | 3.9% |
| midday | CNY Retail Sales (YoY) (Dec) | HIGH | -7.8% | -5.9% | |
| 5pm | GBP Unemployment Rate (3M) (Nov) | HIGH | 3.7% | 3.7% | |
| Wed | n/a | JPY BoJ Interest Rate Decision | HIGH | – | -0.1% |
| 5pm | GBP Consumer Price Index (YoY) (Dec) | HIGH | 10.6% | 10.7% | |
| 11:30pm | USD Retail Sales (MoM) (Dec) | HIGH | 0.1% | -0.6% | |
| Thur | 11:30am | AUD Employment Change (Dec) | HIGH | 22.5K | 64K |
| 11:30am | AUD Unemployment Rate (Dec) | HIGH | 3.4% | 3.4% | |
| 11:30pm | USD Housing Starts (MoM) (Dec) | Med | 1,358M | 1,427M | |
| 11:30pm | USD Initial Jobless Claims (Jan 13) | Med | 214K | 205K | |
| Fri | 11:15am | CNY PBoC Interest Rate Decision | HIGH | – | 3.65% |