Australian Dollar Outlook - 08/31/2012

Bell FX Currency Outlook: European jitters have once again crept back into the market as risk sentiment weakened overnight.

Australia: The Australian Dollar continued its decline and is weaker across the board as a slide in the iron ore price weighed on our local currency.

US dollar strength continued, pushing the AUD to a one-month low below USD1.0300, and also saw monthly lows against the euro at EUR0.8200.

Rumours were heard overnight that more Spanish regions will need to apply for a bailout, and as a result bond yields pushed higher and added to the weaker sentiment.

Friday shall see a plethora of Japanese data released, although markets will remain subdued until the Jackson Hole meeting tonight. We expect the AUD to trade in a tight range today with volatility expected tonight as traders react to headlines from Bernanke's speech.

Majors: Equity markets retreated and the EUR fell overnight as markets began to pare back expectations that US Fed Chairman Bernanke will signal a new round of stimulus in his speech tonight.

Hopes for more stimulus started to mount when the Fed meeting minutes released sighted policymakers could act "fairly soon". US data was mixed overnight, with unemployment claims a touch worse than expected at 374k, whilst inflation figures saw a sharp decline to +1.3% from +1.5% in July.

The Dow Jones and S&P500 both declined 0.8% to 13,001 and 1,399. European equities also declined with the FTSE closing 0.4% lower at 5,719 and the German DAX fell 1.6% to 6,895.
Economic Calendar
31 AUG AU Private Sector Credit JUL
JN National CPI JUL
EU Euro-zone Unemployment Rate JUL
US Fed's Bernanke speaks in Jackson Hole

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