Fourth quarter (Y/Y) GDP for Australia was confirmed at 2.4% disappointing expectations against an expected 2.5% and a previous 2.9%. AUDUSD declined to lows of 0.7772 after opening today’s session at 0.7827. Despite the gains seen against the AUD, the USD was overall in decline as well.
The US Dollar index continued into yesterday’s decline and we are now currently trading at 89.50. The White House has announced that Economist and advisor Gary Cohn has resigned from his post. Given Mr Cohn was strongly in favour of free trade, fears that trade wars may still be in the cards for President Trump dampened the mood for the USD.
Meanwhile North Korea said it was willing to hold talks on possible denuclearisation with the US, and the news was well received.
The euro is ambitioning for new highs as it takes advantage of the weaker USD. EURUSD hit session highs of 1.2419 throughout Tuesday’s session and has already chanllenged that in today’s session as we see session highs of 1.2428 so far.
The euro is looking up to the ECB rate decision and communication scheduled for tomorrow, and possibly hopes that Mr Draghi may show some indication that the central bank is ready to drop its easing bias somehow helped suport for the euro.
