AUDUSD: The Australian dollar was higher Thursday buoyed by reports that a crucial debt swap in Greece had moved closer to a successful conclusion.
Australia’s unemployment rate rose to 5.2% in February as the economy shed 15,000 part-time jobs, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said.
Economists said the data fueled the case for the Reserve Bank of Australia to lower interest rates in coming months, especially as they followed other data Wednesday showing sluggish economic growth in the fourth quarter.
We expect a range for today in AUDUSD rate of 1.0600 to 1.0680 (We expect the pair to head further north but limited)
WE AVOID TRADING THE PAIR TODAY
EURUSD: A crucial deadline is approaching as Greece seeks to get commitments by its bondholders to agree to a debt-restructuring plan that will involve big losses on their holdings.
The restructuring involves debt worth EUR206 billion in the hands of the private sector, although the current offer is extended to holders of EUR177 billion of bonds under Greek law. Greece needs to secure at least 90% of that for the bond exchange to proceed on a voluntary basis.
We expect a range for today in EURUSD rate of 1.3200 to 1.3300
WE AVOID TRADING THE PAIR TODAY
USDJPY: The number of U.S. workers filing new applications for unemployment benefits rose for the third consecutive week, though the overall level of new claims remained low enough to suggest the labor market continues its slow recovery.
The four-week moving average of claims, which smoothes out week-to-week volatility, inched up to 355,000, 250 more than the previous week. Though up in recent weeks, new claims have been trending lower since last spring and have been mostly below 400,000 since November. When that happens, hiring usually picks up as well.
We expect a range for today in USDJPY rate of 81.00 and 81.90
We shorted USDJPY at 81.40 (continued to hold)
Stop loss at 81.80
Target at 80.80 and 80.30
