General Commentary
Last Week’s currency trading review:
The Euro: continued to trade downwards after dovish comments from ECB Director Draghi, who took no action but talked down inflation and offered signs that the Bank could add liquidity to the market. Even after a missed f/c NFP data from last Friday, the pair still found itself hard to stay above the 1.3720-30 area.
The Yen: The USD/JPY moved to a new trading range last week above 103 level as the US dollar gained momentum and safe heaven trading subsided. Traders are closely watching BOJ this week after the sales tax increased on 1st of April. The released NFP report was mixed with a slightly lower release but a large upward revision to the previous month.
The AUD: remained near recent high but off this week’s top which was at 0.9306 climbing against a strong US dollar after the RBA held rates and policy and made no mention of the strength of the AUD. Chinese data were more negative but the hopes of massive stimulus from China supported the currency.
The Forex Trading Week Preview:
The States: Wednesday JOLTS job Opening (3.99M f/c vs 3.97M prev, FOMC meeting Minutes. Thursday Unemployment Claims (314k vs 326k). Friday PPI (0.1% vs -0.1%), Prelim UoM Consumer Sentiment (81.2 vs 80)
The EZ: Wednesday German Trade Balance (18.0B vs 17.2B).
The BOJ: Tuesday Monetary Policy Statement, Current Account (-0.04T vs -0.59T), BOJ Press Conference. Thursday: Core Machinery Orders (-3.2% vs 13.4%). Friday: Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes.
Australia: Tuesday: NAB Business Confidence (Prev 7), Wednesday: Westpac Consumer Sentiment (-0.7 prev), Thursday: Employment Change (7.3K f/c vs 47.3K prev), Unemployment (6.1% f/c vs 6%).
