Welcome to our daily market update where we help keep you informed on the latest happenings in the world of FX and show you what this means for the Mighty Aussie Dollar.
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Key Data Being Released Today
New Zealand – Westpac Consumer Sentiment
Macro Report
Major currencies were mixed against the US dollar in European and US trade. The Aussie dollar rose from lows near US73.73 cents to highs near US74.20 cents and was near US74.00 cents at the US close. The Euro fell from highs near US$1.1065 to lows near US$1.1010 and was near US$1.1015 at the US close.
Impacting markets were comments from US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, stating that if they need to raise fed funds rate by more than 25 bps at a meeting or meetings, they will do so, adding that in times when circumstances change swiftly, Fed predictions might become out of date soon.
Also, he noted that the central bank is focused on restoring price stability while maintaining a healthy labour market. However, he added that “inflation is much too high” and that a reduction of the balance sheet could come as soon as the May meeting, but no decision has been made.
Treasury yields spiked following the comments, the US 2-year yields rose by 17 points to near 2.12% and the US 10-year yields rose by 16 points to near 2.30%.
The market pricing for a 50-basis point hike at the next Fed meeting jumped to 61% from 52% before Powell’s speech according to Refinitiv.
Global oil prices rose 7.1% on Monday as European leaders considered a ban on Russian oil imports. Further supporting prices was news of weekend attacks by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group that caused a temporary drop in output at a Saudi Aramco joint venture in Yanbu.
Ahead, in Australia the weekly consumer confidence index is released with monthly household spending. In the US, the Richmond Federal Reserve index is issued.
AUD/USD Daily Chart
DXY (USD INDEX) Daily
Major Global Markets
| Currencies | Level | Change (%) |
| AUD/USD | 0.7399 | -0.0500 |
| AUD/JPY | 88.4800 | 0.0100 |
| AUD/CNH | 4.7139 | -0.0200 |
| DXY | 98.4980 | 0.0000 |
| Rates | Yield (%) | Change (%) |
| US 10 Year | 2.297 | 0.00 |
| Aus 10 year | 2.686 | 0.05 |
| Equities | Level | Change (%) |
| S&P 500 | 4461 | 0 |
| NASDAQ | 14376 | 0 |
| ASX 200 | 7279 | 0 |
| Commodities | Level | Change (%) |
| Iron Ore | 150.47 | 0 |
| Gold | 1935.34 | -0.05 |
| Brent Crude oil | 112.76 | 0.57 |