There were no data releases from Australia on Friday morning, with Aussie pulling back after yet again unsuccessful attempt to break above 0.7250 area. On the back of renewed strength in commodity prices and reduced expectations for the US rate hikes in the year head, the Australian dollar has been resilient of late. After plumbing a fresh six-year low of .6824 on January 15, the Aussie has rallied by nearly 6% over the past six weeks, leaving it trading at .7238 against the US dollar, near the highest level seen this year.
In the US
GDP and Revised Consumer Confidence figures were published.
US GDP increased at an annual rate of 1.0% in the fourth quarter of 2015, according to the "second" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the third quarter, real GDP increased 2.0%. The increase in real GDP in the fourth quarter reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures (
PCE), residential fixed investment, and federal government spending that were partly offset by negative contributions from exports, nonresidential fixed investment, state and local government spending, and private inventory investment. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, decreased.
Consumer purchases climbed in January by the most in eight months, fueled by faster earnings growth and indicating the biggest part of the U.S. economy gained momentum at the start of 2016. The 0.5% advance followed a 0.1% gain the prior month, a Commerce Department report showed Friday. The January figure exceeded the 0.3% median forecast in a Bloomberg survey. Incomes also climbed 0.5%, more than projected. Consumer Confidence also rose from Prelim reading to 91.7.
From Australia, on Monday, Company Operating Profits will be published. Decrease by 1.7% is expected. In the US session Chicago PMI and Pending Home Sales figures will be released. Analysts predict decline to 52.1 in Chicago PMI and 0.6% increase in Pending Home Sales.
Figures to watch:
Company Operating Profit (Monday 1:30)
Chicago PMI (Monday 15:45)
Pending Home Sales (Monday 16:00)
