AUD
Australian Building Approvals m/m grew 5.9% from October 2009 to November 2009. This beat expectations 3.1%.
Building approvals is a good leading indicator of future construction activity. The Australian dollar rose slightly on the news, though it’s been having no trouble rising at any time. The AUD was one of the currencies that gained the most strength through 2009, and 2010 looks like it may be another good year for the Aussie.
GBP
Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) was 56.8. Above 50 indicates growth, below indicates contraction. This was in line with expectations at 56.7 and very near the previous report of 56.6.
The GBP declined on the news. This is likely due to the perception that the rate of change in the PMI is plateauing.
USD
ADP Non-Farm Employment Change reported that private employment decreased by 84,000 jobs down to 108,113,000. This was worse than expectations of -74,000.
This report leads the government release employment change report, which will come in on Friday January 8, 2010. Markets were relatively flat on the data.
ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI came in flat at 50.1. This was slightly worse than expectations of 50.5, and in line with previous reports.
US markets have been flat on this data, though US stocks are slightly positive and the USD has lost some strength.
US crude oil inventories increased by 1.3 million barrels from the previous week, beating expectations of -400K.
This greatly increased the volatility in the crude oil market. The market dropped down bear 80.80, and has since rallied to over 83.00. USDCAD has also declined, but the USD weakness is across multiple currencies in addition to gold and oil.
