By FX Empire.com

The AUD/USD pair ended last week with losses despite the gains recorded with the beginning of the week, where the Aussie followed other higher-yielding currencies steps and fell against the greenback.

Lack of confidence and uncertainty regarding the EU debt crisis future, drove the lower-yielding currencies up as investors consider them safe havens, the greenback also recovered some of its previous losses against the European currencies and the Australian dollar.

On the other hand, fears remained predominant especially after Moody’s Investors Service agency reduced Spain’s credit ratings ranking by two levels to A1 from Aa2, where Spain’s credit rating was cut for the third time since June of last year as Europe’s debt crisis threatens to engulf the nation.

Meanwhile, the RBA’s minutes noted that economic growth in Australia is not going to be strong as earlier expected which is reflecting global and local factors, thereby that will cause a lower inflation than expected. This week the focus will be on inflation figures to anticipate the coming move from the RBA are they intend to keep the inflation rate at records low between 2 to 3% and the report which is due on October 26.

Major highlights for this week that will affect the AUD/USD pair’s trading:

Monday October 24:

On Monday at 00:30 GMT, the Australian economy will release the Producer Price Index for the third quarter, where the previous reading was up by 0.8%. The annual Producer Price Index had a previous reading of 3.4%.

Tuesday October 25:

On Tuesday, the U.S. economy will release the Consumer Confidence for October at 14:00 GMT, where it’s expected to come at 46.3 from the previous 45.4. The House Price Index for August is due at 14:00 GMT which had a previous reading of 0.8%.

Wednesday October 26:

On Wednesday at 00:30 GMT, Australia will release the Consumer Price Index for the third quarter, where the previous reading was up by 0.9% and on the year had a previous reading of 3.6%.

At 12:30 GMT, the U.S. economy will release the Durable Goods Orders for September, where it’s expected to come at -0.7% from the previous -0.1%, while Durables Excluding Transportation is expected to come at 0.5% from the previous -0.1%.

New Home Sales for September will released at 14:00 GMT, with a previous reading of 295 thousand and it’s expected to rise to 300 thousand by 1.7%.

Thursday October 27:

On Thursday at 12:30 GMT the U.S. economy will release the annualized Gross Domestic Product for the third quarter, where the advanced reading is expected to show a growth of 2.3% from the previous 1.3%.

U.S. Personal Consumption is expected to show a rise of 1.9% from the prior 0.7%, while Core PCE is expected to come at 2.3% in line with the previous quarter.

On Thursday at 12:30 GMT, the U.S. economy will issue its weekly initial claims numbers, where the number of people filing for first-time claims for state unemployment insurance increased 403 thousand last week.

The U.S. Pending Home Sales for September is expected to come at 0.1% from -1.2%, while the annual reading had a prior reading of 13.1%.

Friday October 28:

On Friday, the U.S. Personal Income for September will be released at 12:30 GMT and it’s expected to come at 0.3% from the previous -0.1%, the Personal Spending Index had a prior reading of 0.2% and expected to come at 0.6%.

The Core PCE for September had a previous reading of 1.6% and expected to rise to 1.8%.

The University of Michigan Confidence will be released at 13:55 GMT, where it’s expected to come at 57.8 from the previous reading of 57.5.

Read more Weekly Forex Analysis here.