AUD/USD: Aussie Edges Higher, Australian Construction Report Next

 | Aug 23, 2016 01:28AM ET

The Australian dollar has edged higher, as the markets search for economic cues at the start of the trading week. In Monday’s North American session, the pair is trading at 0.7630. The only Australian release is the CB Leading Index, which posted a small gain of 0.1%. There are no US events on Monday. On Tuesday, Australia releases Construction Work Done, while the US will release New Home Sales, a key indicator.

There was good news from the Australian labor market last week, as employment numbers sparkled in July. Employment Change jumped 26.2 thousand, crushing the estimate of 10.2 thousand. This marked the sharpest gain since October 2015. However, the rise was made up of part-time jobs, as full-time positions actually dropped. There was also positive news from the unemployment rate, which dipped to 5.7%, down from 5.8% a month earlier. The strong job numbers will be welcome news to the RBA, which cut rates to an all-time low of 1.50% earlier this month and would like to avoid another cut at its next policy meeting in September.

AUD/USD Fundamentals

Monday (August 22)

  • 10:30 Australian CB Leading Index. Actual 0.1%

Tuesday (August 23)

  • 10:00 US New Home Sales. Estimate 575K
  • 21:30 Australian Construction Work Done. Estimate -1.9%

AUD/USD for Monday, August 22, 2016