The Australian dollar was hit hard due to the sharp drops we saw in FX carry trades, and the currency will face event risk overnight.
The Australian labor markets started to deteriorate during the second half of 2008, and this is likely to continue through 2009. While we did see a surprise improvement in April, the June results are projected to show that the unemployment rate jumped up to a nearly 6-year high of 5.9 percent from 5.7 percent while the net employment change is anticipated to fall by 20,000. The latter report tends to have a greater impact on the Aussie since the figure rarely meets expectations and can lead to volatile short-term price action for the Australian dollar immediately following the news at 21:30 EDT.
[B]See the [/B][B]Daily Fundamentals[/B][B] in its entirety for a look at what happened to the US dollar, euro, and other major currencies. Also, check out the [/B][B]DailyFX Forex Stream[/B][B] for the latest in market analysis and news.[/B]