On Friday, only Australian Private Sector Credit data was released. The total amount of new credit issued to consumers and businesses in Australia rose last month, official data showed on Friday. In a report, Reserve Bank of Australia said that Australian Private Sector Credit rose to a seasonally adjusted 0.5%, from 0.5% in the preceding month. Analysts had expected Australian Private Sector Credit to rise 0.5% last month. Following the introduction of an interest rate differential between housing loans to investors and owner-occupiers in mid-2015, a number of borrowers have changed the purpose of their existing loan; the net value of switching of loan purpose from investor to owner-occupier is estimated to have been $47 billion over the period of July 2015 to November 2016, of which $0.9 billion occurred in November 2016.
In the US session Chicago PMI figures were released. The MNI Chicago Business Barometer fell 3.0 points to 54.6 in December from 57.6 in November, led by declines in both New Orders and Order Backlogs. After a disappointing start to the fourth quarter, the latest results suggest economic conditions have improved somewhat, with the Barometer averaging 54.3 in Q4, the highest in two years. The December decline was led by a slowdown in New Orders, which fell 6.7 points to 56.5, giving up most of the November gain that had left it running at the fastest pace since June.
There will be no major data releases from Australia tomorrow, and with holiday in USA we can expect a less volatile session.
