Market Update – 11th April 2018 – Away For Three Weeks But AUD Little Changed While Volatility Remains

Well, if you hadn’t noticed it’s been three weeks since my last morning market update and if you had and was wandering where I’ve been I was in Japan for the annual Cherry Blossom season. As many of you know I’ve been to Japan many many times to snowboard which is my other passion after financial markets but never during the famed Cherry Blossom period which occurs (depending on where in Japan you are) between late March and early April. The trip was amazing and the Cherry and Plum trees in full bloom was quite simply spectacular and I highly recommend a visit during this time of the year. If you want information simply reply with your questions and I’ll happily give you all the tips and info I can.

But…returning to financial markets (and I have to admit I did keep one eye on the markets whilst on holiday) and things appear to be little changed. Markets are still more volatile than ever, Trump is still threatening trade wars with the rest of the world and the Aussie dollar remains tied to commodities prices particularly the iron ore price. Believe it or not in three weeks AUD/USD has barely changed with the currency not far off the 0.7716 quoted in my last report around the 20th – at present we are trading around 0.7764.

Commodities prices and stocks have remained volatile as a result of Trump’s trade tariffs on Chinese products but commodities now appear quite oversold and potentially ripe for a move higher which could support the Aussie dollar. But U.S interest rates do continue to move higher whilst local interest rates remain around 1.5% with the RBA petrified of crushing the housing bubble via higher interest rates and preferring a more orderly correction over the next few years. Only time will tell how all this plays out though.

AUD EXCHANGE RATES:

AUD/USD – 0.7763

AUD/GBP – 0.5474

AUD/EUR – 0.6280

AUD/NZD – 1.0532

AUD/JPY – 83.226

USD/BTC – $6,765

OTHER MARKETS: 

All Ords (XAO) – 5,951

Gold – A$1726/oz

Silver –  A$21.36/oz

WTI – US$65.61/barrel

DATA RELEASES TODAY:

AUD – Westpac Consumer Sentiment at 10.30am

AUD – RBA Gov Lowe Speaks at 3.00pm

USD – CPI at 10.30pm