Aud/usd Fell Initially

Market wrap A disappointing US payrolls report hurt sentiment, pushing equities, risky currencies, commodities and interest rates lower. Only 115,000 jobs were added in April versus 160,000 expected. There were, however, positive back revisions and the unemployment rate fell from 8.2% to 8.1%, initially causing some confusion in markets before judgement was passed it was a weak outcome. Also reported was lower Eurozone manufacturing activity, adding to the negative market tone. The S&P500 closed down 1.6% and the CRB commodities index fell 1.4%. US 10yr treasury yields closed 5bp lower at 1.88%, earlier making a 3 Feb low at 1.87%. Australian 3yr bond yields fell 6bp. A few hours ago, results from European elections were announced. France has a new (socialist) president, and Greece's two ...

Forex Morning Briefing : RBA surprises with 50 bps cut What’s new: Forex: Aussie tumbles on RBA rate cut; euro off two-week lows against yen Global Markets: Asian shares hurt by concerns over US and European economies, lifted by RBA Australia: RBA cuts rates by 50 bps to 3.75 percent China: Manufacturing PMI rises as expected to 53.6 Euro zone: Eurogroup head quits citing intolerance to Franco-German interference Euro zone: Spain slips back into recession United States: Fed’s Fisher and Williams say no need for further monetary easing United States: ISM manufacturing index due today at 16:00 CET Rates in Asia and Indices: EUR/USD 1.3234 1.3260 0.11 % USD/CHF 0.9060 0.9077 0.11 % GBP/USD 1.6212 1.6241 -0.07 % USD/JPY 79.64 79.95 ...

Economic Data (AU) RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA (RBA) CUTS CASH TARGET RATE BY 50BPS TO 3.75%, MORE THAN EXPECTED (CN) CHINA APR PMI MANUFACTURING: 53.3 V 53.6E (5th consecutive m/m increase; 13-month high) (KR) SOUTH KOREA APR EXTERNAL TRADE BALANCE: $2.15B V $3.0BE (KR) SOUTH KOREA APR CONSUMER PRICE INDEX (CPI) M/M: 0.0% V 0.3%E; Y/Y: 2.5% V 2.8%E (multi-month low); CORE CPI Y/Y: 1.8% V 1.9% PRIOR (NZ) NEW ZEALAND Q1 AVERAGE HOURLY EARNINGS Q/Q: 1.3% V 0.0% PRIOR; PRIVATE WAGES EXCLUDING OVERTIME: 0.5% V 0.6%E; INCLUDING OVERTIME: 0.5% V 0.5%E (AU) AUSTRALIA MAR RPDATA-RISMARK HOUSE PRICE ACTUAL: -0.8% V 0.2% PRIOR (3-month low) (AU) AUSTRALIA Q1 HOUSE PRICE INDEX Q/Q: -1.1% V -0.5%E (fifth consecutive quarter of decline); Y/Y: -4.5% V -3.9%E (ID) INDONESIA MAR TOTAL TRADE BALANCE: $840M ...

Lower Aussie CPI raises argument for a rate cut; Bond yields fall Economic Data (AU) AUSTRALIA Q1 CONSUMER PRICES (CPI) Q/Q: 0.1% V 0.6%E; Y/Y: 1.6% V 2.2%E (lowest since Q3 of 2009) (JP) JAPAN MAR CORPORATE SERVICE PRICE INDEX Y/Y: -0.3% V -0.6%E (3-month high) (CN) CHINA MAR CONFERENCE BOARD LEADING ECONOMIC INDEX M/M: 0.8% V 1.0% PRIOR (3-month low) (NZ) NEW ZEALAND MAR NET MIGRATION: 130.0 V -300 PRIOR (NZ) New Zealand Mar Credit Card Spending m/m: 0.3% v 0.4% prior; y/y: 5.2% v 4.0% prior (3-month high) (AR) Argentina Mar Budget Balance (ARS): +849M v +1.3B y/y Markets Snapshot (as of 04:30GMT) Nikkei225 -0.9% S&P/ASX +0.1% Kospi -0.7% Taiwan Taiex -0.2% Singapore Straits Times +0.3% Shanghai Composite -1.4% Hang Seng -0.3% Jun S&P Futures +0.2% at 1,365 June gold +0.3% at $1,637/ ...

What’s new: Asia: Mixed figures from Japan took the JPY higher. Core CPI and employment slightly higher, but industrial production fell. Europe: EUR fell in the London session on weak sentiment figures. US: USD slightly lower on dovish Bernanke and in-line Q4 growth Rates in Asia and Indices: EURUSD: 1.3294 – 1.3376. USDCHF: 0.9009 – 0.9067. GBPUSD: 1.5947 - 1.6032. EURJPY: 109.03 – 109.88. USDJPY: 81.83– 82.50. Dow Jones: 13’145.82 +0.15% NASDAQ: 3'095.36 -0.31% S & P 500: 1'403.28 -0.49% Nikkei: 10’083.56 -0.31% Shanghai: 2'253.19 +0.04% Gold: $ 1'661.30 Crude Oil: $ 103.32 Comments: After US growth figures came in line with expectations at 3.0% QoQ, the USD gained initially, but a dovish Bernanke and some rebound in a falling equity market late in the session made the Greenbank ...

Markets continue to grieve; where higher yielders took a brutal hit today, after the latest developments we mentioned in our previous updates regarding the Greek never-ending dilemma. The U.S. macroeconomic data just came to slightly ease the hyper-tensioned markets, at least temporarily. The data showed the PPI measure of inflation inclined to 0.1% however it came below the median estimates of 0.3%. The housing sector showed as slight improvement as 0.70 million new residential buildings began construction, adding 10,000 buildings to the previous numbers and above the 0.68 million estimates. Most importantly, Unemployment claims unexpectedly dropped to 348k from 361k last month. The EUR/USD off lows after the release, trading around 1.3000 after printing a low at 1.2974. The pair opened ...

Morning Briefing : Greek bailout talks stale, euro drops to 3-week low What's new: Forex: Euro falls to 3-week low on worries over Greek bailout Forex: USD/JPY to 3-1/2 month high Global Markets: Shares fall as stall in Greek bailout deal cooled risk appetite Australia: Economy adds 46’300 new jobs, unemployment rate drops to 5.1 percent Euro zone: Doubts emerge over Greece, decision on bailout pushed to next week Euro zone: France and Spain scheduled to auction bonds today United States: FOMC minutes show Fed divided over need for more stimulus Forex rates in Asia and Indices: EUR/USD: 1.3067 - 1.2994 USD/CHF: 0.9284 – 0.9236 GBP/USD: 1.5700 - 1.5660 USD/JPY: 78.73 – 78.36 EUR/CHF: 1.2071 – 1.2062 EUR/JPY: 102.51 – 101.93 DowJones: 12'870.95 -0.76% NASDAQ: 2'915.83 -0.55% S & P 500: 1' ...

According to a Greek government official; the Greek government is preparing a text for an agreement that would be handled to political parties to discuss and agree upon today, this text is the result of the long-lasted talks with private lenders. After the long wait, markets are getting fresh news from Greece, the news was euro positive as the EUR/USD pair is trading higher currently around 1.3175 after its has been under pressure this morning printing a low at 1.3095 after opening the day at 1.3129. A final approval by political parties shall end this vague phase of the country’s perilous journey and avoid a messy default. The EUR/USD pair has breached the short term descending resistance of a bullish flag pattern suggesting we may see further gains within the coming sessions, ...

Fundamental News: Today's highlight; · Fed Chairman Bernanke Testifies. (US, 15:00, GMT) The EUR/USD is trading down at 1.3055 from early 1.3085, having been as low as 1.3028. European trading was a worrisome as investors could not decide what was happening. News from Greece was not promising. Greece failed to agree on new austerity measures across political parties yesterday, a requirement for the proposed bailout to avoid default in March. There was some progress on bank recapitalization. Overcoming the political realities of further austerity after almost 5 years of recession is proving very difficult. There cannot be a new program for Greece unless the conditions of the troika are met,” Merkel said at a joint press conference here with Sarkozy, referring to the European ...