There were no major data releases from Australia yesterday. After Fed's impact on Australian dollar was nil and it was relatively unshaken and stayed at Wednesday’s level of US72.06 cents. The declines started in the Asian session. Crude oil continued its slide in the Asian session to trade at 35.49 and Brent oil remained close behind at 37.25 down by 21 cents. Skyrocketing inventories in the US, comments from Iran and the lifting of the US export ban all weighed heavily on the commodity. It seems that the price war for market share initiated by the Saudi’s may have just spiraled out of control with events that were not foreseeable.
In the US session
Unemployment Claims and Philly Fed Manufacturing Index figures were released. In the week ending December 12, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted
initial claims was 271,000, a decrease of 11,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 282,000. This was in line with market expectations. The 4-week moving average was 270,500, a decrease of 250 from the previous week's unrevised average of 270,750.
Separate report, on Philly Fed Manufacturing Index showed that diffusion index for current activity returned to negative territory this month, decreasing from 1.9 to -5.9. Analysts were anticipating slight incline to 2.1. This is the third negative reading in the past four months. The index for current new orders remained negative and fell 6 points, to -9.5. However, firms reported higher shipments, as the current shipments index increased 6 points to a reading of 3.7. Firms reported a decline in unfilled orders, with the index falling from 2.4 to -17.7.
Tomorrow's session could lack volatility since there will be no major data releases both from Australia and USA, but we would keep any eye on commodity prices, in particular gold and oil prices that do have impact both on Aussie and USD at the moment.
