We had overnight data out of Australia last night, data with regards to the health of employment there was mixed. For the month of December the Australian economy added 13.5k more than the expected, however the unemployment rate for the same period ticked higher to 5.8% from a previous 5.7% and marking highest levels in this past year.
The Aussie briefly declined after the data was published, but the losses were short lived and the currency managed to recover earlier lost ground and is currently making gains accross the board – at least up to the time of writing. AUDUSD is at 0.7521 after opening the session at 0.7504 this morning, the lows reached earlier were of 0.7493. The Aussie shrugged off the higher unemployment rate but may be now looking onto tomorrow’s GDP data out of China, a major trade partner for Australia.
In the meantime the US Dollar Index (DXY) managed to resume the 101 levels yesterday at close, recovering most of the losses seen last Tuesday. This morning the index is currently trading at 101.25 but has been losing steam throughout this morning’s session.
In a speech delivered yesterday evening, Janet Yellen, was quoted as saying that the Fed is still providing support to the economy, but is at the phase of easing that gradually.
USDJPY closed higher yesterday and is currently trading at 114.64, EURUSD also gave in to the renewed Dollar support throughout yesterday’s session and closed lower at 1.0628.
