dollars
A U.S. dollar note (bottom) is pictured alongside other currencies including (L-R) the Australian Dollar, Singapore Dollar, Korean Won and China's Yuan in this picture illustration taken in Washington, October 14, 2010. Reuters/Jason Reed

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar is broadlyunchanged this morning after a quiet night for markets onFriday.

Australia: The AUD is currently trading around 0.7370, remaining withina relatively range of 0.7355-0.7397 against the USD. The calmer end tothe week came in part due to comments from PBoC officials that furtherdepreciation in the RMB was not warranted at this stage and this wasmore of a one-off adjustment. Over the weekend, PBoC Chief EconomistMa Jun reiterated this calming message, noting that in the future the yuanwill probably move in both directions. It looks to be a quiet week for Australia. On the data front there are only a few second tier reports withthe likes of the weekly ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Sentiment index onTuesday, along with July motor vehicle sales, followed by the WestpacLeading Index and Skilled Vacancies for July. Tuesday’s RBA minuteswould normally be keenly anticipated, though to an extent have alreadybeen pre-empted by the August SoMP. Potential nuggets will be few andfar between. Thursday morning’s FOMC minutes will be the highlight forglobal FX markets this week.

Majors: The USD was slightly stronger on Friday night, driven by severaldata releases. US industrial production gained 0.6% m/m in July, withmanufacturing production rising 0.8% m/m, in line with the stabilisationsuggested by the ISM manufacturing survey. US headline producer pricesrose 0.2% m/m in July, but remained 0.8% lower over the year. Coreprices were stronger than expected at 0.6% m/m, but overall, producerprice pressures remain very subdued. The EUR is down 100 points fromits high as Euro area Q2 GDP growth was weaker than expected. Theheadline number showed a rise of 0.3% q/q (0.4% expected), while theannual pace of growth picked up to 1.2% – the strongest pace of growthsince Q3 2011, but still slightly below expectations. The quiet end to lastweek looks to continue tonight, with the main data releases beingEurozone trade balance, US NAHB Housing Market Index and NY EmpireState Manufacturing Index.

Economic Calendar 17 AUG

  • JN GDP SA QoQ
  • EC Trade Balance SA Jun
  • US Empire Manufacturing Aug
  • US NAHB Housing Market Index Aug

[Kick off your trading day with our newsletter]
More from IBT Markets:
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Subscribe to get this delivered to your inbox daily