AUD/USD – Aussie Stable in Light Trade

AUD/USD has posted slight gains on Monday, as the pair trades in the mid-0.81 line. There are no Australian or US releases to start off the week. On Tuesday, we’ll get a look at US consumer confidence numbers, with the markets expecting an excellent release for December. The estimate stands at 94.6 points.

In the US, there were a host of key events last week, ahead of the Christmas holiday. GDP was red-hot in Q3, jumping 5.0%, ahead of the estimate of 4.6%. This marked the indicator’s strongest gain since the third quarter of 2003. The US economy is expected to continue to surge in 2015, driven by increased consumer spending and lower oil prices. The news was not as positive from Core Durable Goods Orders, which posted a decline of 0.4%, its fourth decline in five readings. The reading was well off the estimate of 1.1%. Durable Goods Orders looked even worse, with a reading of -0.7%. This surprised the markets which had anticipated a strong gain of 3.0%. UoM Consumer Sentiment continues to rise, hitting 93.6 points in December. This marked its highest level since February 2007, as the US consumer remains very optimistic about the economy as we move into 2015. Unemployment Claims posted another solid reading, indicative of a strong US labor market.

AUD/USD for Monday, December 29, 2014

AUD/USD December 29 at 14:50 GMT

AUD/USD 0.8142 H: 0.8163 L: 0.8113

AUD/USD Technical

• AUD/USD posted slight gains in the Asian session. The pair tested resistance in European trade before retracting. AUD/USD is unchanged early in the North American session.
• 0.8150 is under pressure and could break during the North American session. 0.8214 is stronger.
• 0.8081 is an immediate support line. 0.7904 is next.
• Current range: 0.8081 to 0.8150.

Further levels in both directions:

• Below: 0.8081, 0.7904, 0.7799 and 0.7701
• Above: 0.8150, 0.8214, 0.8315, 0.8456 and 0.8550

OANDA’s Open Positions Ratio

AUD/USD ratio has a majority of long positions, indicative of trader bias towards AUD/USD breaking out of range and moving higher.

AUD/USD Fundamentals

* There are on Australian or US releases on Monday.

This article is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Corporation or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. Leveraged trading is high risk and not suitable for all. You could lose all of your deposited funds.