Summary:
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Relatively quiet day on the data front
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US PPI and jobless claims at 1:30
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Canadian housing starts at 1:15
While there has been some interesting economic releases since last night’s US close the forthcoming session has little by the way of major data points that could impact the markets. The biggest mover in the Asian session was the New Zealand dollar, with the Kiwi coming under pressure after a dovish tilt was apparent in the latest policy message from the RBNZ. Looking ahead there’s next to nothing due out as far as Europe is concerned today with a batch of 2nd tier data from North America the only real releases of note.
1:15 PM - Canadian housing starts
The Canadian dollar has been moving higher in recent trade despite a large drop in the oil price (caused in part by yesterday’s DOE inventories showing a smaller than expected drop). This afternoon sees the latest housing figures from the country with an expected reading of 220k for the month of July, down on the 248k seen previously. While this data itself doesn’t normally have a large immediate impact on the Loonie, it could help to shape expectations a little for tomorrow’s employment report which is arguably the biggest event of the month for CAD traders.
1:30 PM - US PPI, Initial jobless claims
The latest inflation and employment figures from the US could provide some further insight into the near term prospects for the US dollar as the buck continues to wrestle with key resistance around the 95-95.40 region. The US labour market has been strong for some time now and the consensus forecast for initial jobless claims of 220k would be only marginally higher than the 218k seen last time out and keep this metric close to multi-decade lows. At the same time as the employment figures the latest PPI numbers will be released with the reading in year-on-year terms expected to remain at 3.4%. This is well above the Fed’s 2% threshold, but the central bank seems to focus on the core PCE reading which is significantly lower. The core PPI print, stripping out food and energy is forecast to also remain in line with the last month’s reading, in this case at 2.8%.
The USDIDX showed a potentially beairsh canlde on Wednesday, as price continues to wrestle with the key resistance around 95-95.45. Source: xStation
