Market Update – 12th December 2018 – AUD Moves Marginally Higher As Markets Take A Breather

U.S stocks finished the overnight session more or less flat and so in the absence of volatility allowed the AUD and commodities prices to push marginally higher across the board. The best performers were iron ore and AUD/GBP which added half a percent as Brexit worries continue to linger.

In more bad news for the housing market we saw a 1.5% decline in house prices in the latest quarter, which takes us to the longest stretch of losses since the early part of this decade. We’ve now had three consecutive quarters of declines and anything more than four quarters would be the worst this century. My personal view is that we’ll see continued declines through most of 2019 as a result of continued tighter credit/lending and grandfathering/changes to both negative gearing and CGT (Labour likely to win next years elections and make changes to negative gearing and CGT).

Local Westpac Consumer Sentiment numbers are out this morning at 10.30am followed by US consumer prices around midnight AEST. No forecast is given for Westpac Consumer Sentiment, however recent numbers have been generally flat during 2018, expect more of the same. U.S CPI is anticipated to be flat with a forecast of no change in consumer prices.

AUD EXCHANGE RATES:

AUD/USD – 0.7170

AUD/GBP – 0.5737

AUD/EUR – 0.6330

AUD/NZD – 1.0444

AUD/JPY – 81.331

USD/BTC – $3,346

OTHER MARKETS:

All Ords (XAO) – 5,651

Gold – A$1,726/oz

Silver –  A$20.22/oz

WTI – US$51.86/barrel

DATA RELEASES TODAY:

AUD – Westpac Consumer Sentiment at 10.30am

USD – CPI at 12.30am (tomorrow morning)