AUDUSD:  The Australian dollar slipped Thursday on the back of falling commodities prices, though a better-than-expected report on the country’s labor market kept the decline limited.

Even as sentiment improved in recent days on Europe’s debt crisis, a recent pick-up in the Australian dollar flamed out in the session as little progress was made on Thursday. For the Australian dollar, the biggest hit was a sell-off in copper, considered a proxy for growth expectations, as it slid more than 2.0% just a day after slumping to 13-month lows on global demand concerns.

Helping the local unit keep from a bigger drop, a late morning report showed Australian job vacancies rose 3.2% in the quarter ending in August, with private sector job vacancies up 4% in the three months to August. After the unemployment rate ticked higher in each of the last two months, the report had some traders forecasting that a big move higher may not be coming.

We expect a range for today in AUDUSD rate of 0.9700 to 0.9880 (We have a minor support at 0.9740, fail to support might head toward 0.9650.  We prefer to place a trade at the level 0.9650)

Set limit BUT for AUDUSD at 0.9650
Stop loss at 0.9570
Target at 0.9690, 0.9730, 0.9780

EURUSD:  The European Union has priced its 7-year EUR1.1 billion bond, one of the lead managers on the deal said Thursday. The EU, backed by 27 EU members and the EU budget, hired Credit Suisse Group, Morgan Stanley and Societe Generale SA to arrange the bond issue.

Proceeds will be used under the European Financial Stabilization Mechanism’s EU regulation in connection with the EU/International Monetary Fund aid package for Ireland and Portugal.

Terms of the bond are as follows:

 

Amount:           EUR1.1 billion

Maturity:         Oct. 04, 2018

Coupon:           2.375%

Reoffer Price:    99.384

Payment Date:     Oct. 06, 2011

Spread:           15 basis points over midswaps

Debt Ratings:     Aaa (Moody’s)

                  AAA (Standard & Poor’s)

                  AAA (Fitch)

Denominations:    EUR1,000

We expect a range for today in EURUSD rate of 1.3530 to 1.3660 (We expect the pair continued to head south toward 1.3500.)

Set limit BUY for EURUSD at 1.3410
Stop loss at 1.3350
Target at 1.3470, 1.3520, 1.3630.

USDJPY:  Stocks opened sharply higher after the number of idled U.S. workers filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell by an unexpectedly sharp 37,000 last week, according to the Labor Department. The surprise improvement in the U.S. employment picture may have been driven by technical factors, however, such as seasonal adjustments in the survey.

Meanwhile, gross domestic product, the broadest measure of all the goods and services produced in an economy, grew at an inflation-adjusted annual rate of 1.3% from April to June, the Commerce Department said. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast second-quarter GDP would be revised up to show 1.2% growth.

Both measures were still at relatively weak overall levels, highlighting the persistent sluggishness of the economic recovery.

We expect a range for today in USDJPY rate of 76.40 to 77.00 (We expect the pair to drop lower from the current market price.)

Set limit BUY for USDJPY at 76.30
Stop loss at 75.60
Target at 76.80 AND 77.20

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