The Australian, New Zealand and Canadian dollar are all up strongly today despite mixed economic data. Australia?s AIG construction index dropped from 51.1 to 47.9 but business conditions increased from 10 to 13.
New Zealand data was clearly less bullish with wages increasing by a less than expected 0.6 percent. This led to the underperformance of the New Zealand dollar against the Australian dollar. Canada on the other hand reported the fastest pace of building permit growth ever. Originally predicted to rise by a modest 2 percent, building permits ended up surging by 27 percent which sent the Canadian dollar to an 11 month high. Looking ahead we have Australian retail sales tonight. Spending is expected to be softer, which would be in line with the slower growth we have seen as of late.