Australian Dollar Surges on Strong Retail Sales Report
The Australian, New Zealand and Canadian dollars strengthened against the greenback thanks to better than expected economic data and higher commodity prices.
Crude oil prices closed at a new record high above $143 a barrel while gold prices are closing in on its 3 month high. Despite the dovish comments from the Reserve Bank of Australia yesterday, retail sales were much stronger than expected. Consumer spending rose 0.7 percent, the strongest pace of growth since November 2007. This is largely due to higher food and gasoline prices since sales at department stores were actually down 0.8 percent. Australian service sector PMI and their trade balance are due for release this evening. Given the drop in manufacturing PMI, service sector growth is likely to be nonexistent.
|
Linear Mode
