The AUD/USD pair reached its lowest level in seven weeks, where the US dollar dominated the currency market last week which opened the way for a free fall for the pair.
The Aussie continued its downside movement against the greenback for the fourth consecutive week, where the greenback found enough support from investors to soar against other majors on haven demand.
The latest FOMC minutes showed that the bank’s members considered more easing, which fueled risk aversion between investors driving them to prefer the greenback as a safe haven.
On the other hand, the U.S. congress failed to reach a final decision to cut the budget deficit, spilling more uncertainty among investors as the EU debt crisis continued to draw a gloomy picture for the global economy.
Aussie lost momentum after the Reserve Bank of Australia cut its interest rate and indicated that they will keep the rate at these levels till the end of the year, which reduced demand for the Australian currency.
Expectations are still bearish for the AUD/USD pair, as the current RBA’s policy does not support Aussie, while fears and concerns is feeding risk aversion which helps the US dollar maintain the upper hand.
Major highlights for this week that will affect the AUD/USD pair’s trading:
Monday November 28:
On Monday at 15:00 GMT, the U.S. economy will release the New Home Sales for October where it’s expected to drop by 1.0% to 310 thousand from 313 thousand.
Tuesday November 29:
On Tuesday at 00:00 GMT the Australian economy is to issue the HIA New Home Sales for October, where the previous reading was down by 3.5%.
The U.S. economy will release the Consumer Confidence of November at 15:00 GMT, with a prior reading of 39.8 and it’s expected to come at 43.5. While the House Price Index for September had a prior reading of -0.1%.
Wednesday November 30:
The U.S. economy will release the ADP employment change for November at 13:15 GMT, where it’s expected to come at 128 thousands from the previous reading of 110 thousands.
The U.S. Non-Farm Productivity for the third quarter is to be released at 13:30 GMT and expected to come at 3.1% inline with the previous reading, and the Unit Labor Costs for the third quarter is also expected unchanged at -2.4%.
The Chicago Purchasing Manager for November will be released at 14:45 GMT and is expected to come at 58.5 from the previous 58.4. At 15:00 GMT the Pending Home Sales will be published and it’s expected to remain flat from the prior -4.6%.
Thursday December 01:
On Thursday at 22:30 GMT (Wednesday), Australia will release the AiG Performance of Manufacturing Index for November, where it had a prior reading of 47.4.
At 00:30 GMT, the Australian economy will release the seasonally adjusted Retail Sales for October, where it had a previous reading of 0.4%. The RBA Commodity Index SDR for November will be released at 05:30 GMT, where it had a prior reading of 19.4%.
At 13:30 GMT, U.S. economy will issue its weekly initial claims numbers, where the number of people filing for first-time claims for the state unemployment insurance increased 388 thousand last week.
The U.S. Construction Spending for October will be released at 15:00 GMT and it’s expected to come at 0.2% inline with the previous.
The ISM Manufacturing Survey for November will be published at 15:00 GMT, with a previous reading of 50.8 and it’s expected to improve to 51.5.
Friday December 02:
On Friday at 00:30 GMT, Australia will release the Building Approvals for October, where it had a prior reading of -13.6%, while the annual Building Approvals had a previous reading of -12.0%.
The United States of America will release the infamous jobs report on Friday at 13:30 GMT which is expected to show that the U.S. economy added 116 thousand jobs during the month of November compared with the previous reading of 80 thousand jobs. Unemployment during the month of November is expected to remain steady at 9.0%.
Originally posted here
