Aussie higher ahead of confidence data
February 8, 2021SharePrint
The Australian dollar has started the trading week in positive territory. Currently, AUD/USD is trading at 0.7706, up 0.37% on the day.
Business and consumer confidence next
Australian releases key business and confidence numbers on Tuesday. NAB Business Confidence (00:30 GMT) slowed to 4 in December, down sharply from 12 beforehand. Westpac Consumer Sentiment (23:30 GMT) also weakened in December, with a reading of -4.5%. This marked the first decline in five months. We now await the January numbers.
Last week wrapped up with a disappointing US nonfarm payrolls report. NFP posted an anemic gain of 49 thousand, missing the estimate of 85 thousand. True, this could be considered a rebound from the previous reading of -140 thousand, but investors were unimpressed and sent the US dollar broadly lower to end the week. The Australian dollar soared on Friday, gaining 1.02 per cent, its best one-day performance in a year. Investors shrugged off a weak Retail Sales, which came in at -4.1%. This reading was upwardly revised from the -4.2% decline in the Preliminary Retail Sales release.