Australian Dollar
Expected Range 0.7580 – 0.7680
As expected it was a fairly quiet day for the Australian Dollar effectively treading water against the USD. The Australian Dollar opens Tuesday at 0.7627 up slightly from Mondays open. With limited data releases around the world and investors focused on the outcome of the Jackson Hole Symposium at the end of the week there has been very little to move the AUD. A strong focus will be on the comments from Janet Yellen who is the chair of the Federal Reserve with the market continuing to look for information about the next rate move. The comments will occur late on Friday when the symposium comes to an end.
New Zealand Dollar
Expected Range 0.7220 – 0.7320
The New Zealand Dollar finished the day slightly up from Mondays open after a losing ground during local hours. The New Zealand Dollar hit intraday lows of 0.7210 during local trade weighed down by comments from a non-voting Fed member whose comments suggested that the Fed should look at raising interest rates this year. It puts the scheduled comments from Fed Chair Yellen later on in the week into focus as they come out of the Jackson Hole Symposium where policy makers are discussing global monetary policies. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand Governor Wheeler will make some comments today with the markets looking to see if he mentions the possibility of a future rate cut.
Great British Pound
Expected Range 1.7160 – 1.7300
Another range bound day for the Pound against the US Dollar as the pair traded between 1.3035 and 1.3140 for the majority of the Asian, European and US sessions. With the markets focus this week primarily being on Thursday and Fridays Jackson Hole Symposium (an event attended by global central banks and finance ministers), currency movements are expected to remain fairly flat. The markets will be looking very closely at any clues from US Federal Reserve officials during the 2 day event for the direction and timing of any interest rates changes in the US. The Australian and New Zealand Dollar opens in Sydney at 1.7220 and 1.8060.
Majors
Expected Range N/A
The USD remained steady on Friday with no major movement in the lead up to the Jackson Hole Symposium later in the week. The minutes from the Fed meeting last week suggested that a consensus on a rate hike in the near future may still be a little way off with a majority voting to keep the rates on hold. The market will look at any comments made by Fed members over the next couple of days looking for any information that suggests the Fed will move at their next meeting. The JPY followed the rest of the world and was range bound for most of the day with the focus for Japan will be a speech by Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda where the market will be looking for any indication that an expansion to the quantitative easing programs is on the cards.