Currency Update: With major US equity indices swinging from gains to losses almost daily, some of this uncertainty flows over to the FX market
Currency Update: With major US equity indices swinging from gains to losses almost daily, some of this uncertainty flows over to the FX market. The AUD seems to be trapped in a band of .8700 to .8900, we believe it could break out from this sometime this week. On Saturday the official Chinese PMI manufacturing data for January revealed a figure of 50.5 which met expectations but is the lowest in 6 months. The recent data from the US continues to be on the good side with the Chicago PMI data for January coming in higher than estimated at 59.6 but slightly lower than December's reading of 60.8. Consumer spending rose 0.4% last month. Europe's inflation figure for January of 0.7% has raised again deflation concerns. Unemployment continues at a rate of 12%. With a weaker EUR the AUDEUR cross rate has moved higher as has the AUDNZD rate.