AUD/USD Daily Forecast

Wednesday, Mar 02 2016

From Australia, yesterday, GDP data was released. Australia's economic growth was a higher-than-expected 0.6% per cent for the December quarter and 3% for the year, according to the Bureau of Statistics. Economy grows 0.6% in December quarter, 3% over 2015. Consumer spending is the biggest contributor to economic growth. A broader ABS measure of economic wellbeing fell 1.2% last year. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had typically expected economic growth to be 0.4% for the December quarter and 2.5% for year. The biggest drag on the economy came from a continued decline in business investment as the mining construction boom winds down, with capital spending taking 0.2 percentage points off GDP. While the mining investment boom is winding down, the production boom is well underway.

In the US session ADP job figures were released. Private sector employment increased by 214,000 jobs from January to February according to the February ADP National Employment Report. Analysts were prediciting increase by 185,000. "Large businesses showed surprisingly strong job gains in February, despite the continuation of economic trends that negatively impact big companies like turmoil in international markets and a strengthening dollar,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, VP and head of the ADP Research Institute. “The gains were mostly driven by the service sector which accounted for almost all the jobs added by large businesses.”

Tomorrow's session will be marked by Australian Trade Balance figures. Deficit is expected to narrow to$3.22 billion. In the US session Unemployment Claims and Non-Manufacturing PMI figures will be released. Analysts predict decrease to 271,000, while Non-Manufacturing PMI should fall to 49.8.

Figures to watch:

Trade Balance (Thursday 1:30)

Unemployment Claims (Thursday 14:30)

ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI (Thursday 16:00)

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