06.02.15

Good morning,

The Reserve Bank of Australia expects unemployment to rise to around 6.5% and they lowered their growth forecasts at the same time from3.00% to 2.75% following the recent cash rate cut from 2.5% to 2.25% Particular mention was given to the housing market which the RBA said needs to be watched closely. AUDUSD was trading at 0.7828 The Japanese Leading Economic Index was out at 105.2, up from 103.7 previously. USDJPY was trading at 117.25

The NIKKEI was trading at 17648.50 up 143.88 points or 0.82%

Greece has been in the news this week, with the new Finance Minister attending a number of meetings with ECB and German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble. In Great Britain yesterday rates were left unchanged at 0.5% as had been expected. GBPUSD trading at 1.5315 Today will see French Trade Balance figures, Spanish, German and Danish Industrial figures. British Trade Balance figures will round off the European morning.

The FTSE100 closed at 6865.93 up just 5.91 points or 0.09% while the DAX closed at 10905.41 down 5.91 points or minus 0.05% yesterday.

Across the Atlantic today we get unemployment figures from both the US and Canada. The rates currently stand at 5.6% and 6.7% respectively. While both are expected to remain unchanged, any change in rate could cause volatility in the USDCAD pair which is trading at 1.2440 at time of writing. The EURUSD trades at 1.1456 while GOLD is priced at $1267 per ounce.

The DOW closed at 17884.88 up 211.86 points or 1.20% following yesterday’s session.

Hope you all have a nice weekend.