AUD USD slides to weekly lows amid risk-off mood mixed US data

The cost of imported goods (like electronics) rises when our dollar is lower. This means that buying something from the United States was 12% more expensive in October than it would be currently. For example, if you wanted to buy a $US1,500 laptop from an American store, it would currently cost you about $2,166AUD. Assuming the sale price of the laptop was the same brokerage firm reviews – everfx in October, it would then have cost $2,419 AUD, a $252 difference. The education sector also gets a bit of a boost when the dollar falls, with international students flocking to Australian universities to study because it’s cheaper for them. Currency rates are notoriously difficult to predict, and most models seldom work for more than brief periods of time.

Beyond the Covid slump, the last time the dollar was this weak against the pound was during the Brexit poll when Britain voted to leave the European Union.
The link between commodity prices and the Australian dollar also appears to have become less reliable.
The lower the dollar falls, the more upwards pressure it will put on inflation and, of course, the cost of living.
This means that buying something from the United States was 12% more expensive in October than it would be currently.

A low Aussie dollar benefits our manufacturers and farmers because they can sell more goods overseas as our exports are cheaper, which means overseas buyers can purchase more of it. A low Aussie dollar also encourages Australians to buy locally because overseas imports cost more. Switching to the Euro, EUR/AUD has been in a cautious downtrend since August. The latter seems to be upheld by rising support from the beginning of this year – see chart below. ”Despite much of the focus on the weaker AUD relative to the USD, this is largely the result of US dollar strength against global currencies, rather than AUD weakness.” she said.

analysisAs the Aussie dollar falls against the US dollar, more economic pressure looms for households

On the other hand, Australia is an export-oriented economy, so a weaker AUD can give our economy a timely boost, since our products and services become more globally competitive. For example, our manufacturers benefit as they’re able to sell more of their goods domestically and overseas. We tend to see more foreign tourists visiting Australia as their currency can go further, profiting our tourism operators.

Our household sector has taken a beating from mortgage hikes, far greater than American households, which is showing up in a sharp fall in household spending. Its property sector is a mess, youth unemployment is soaring, its population is simultaneously shrinking and ageing and its government agencies are drowning in debt. And while that may have on paper made us much wealthier than we had ever been, it had the debilitating effect of hollowing out the economy. The RBA’s latest quarterly Statement on Monetary Policy shows its decision to leave rates on hold at 4.1 per cent in August was a close call. Before the Australian dollar was floated almost 40 years ago, depreciating the currency was akin to political suicide.

The lower dollar comes at a time when consumers are feeling, well, quite miserable actually. Yet the lower the dollar falls the less purchasing power shoppers have — that’s where it hurts many of us day-to-day. The sharp fall in the Australian dollar coincided with another broad and sharp sell-off on the Australian Stock Exchange. It’s now close to where it settled during the pandemic-induced financial crisis. Inflation might be rapidly falling, but economists will stick to their textbooks to argue another rate rise is needed.

Swings in the Australian dollar can either erode or add value to international investments. However, as countries around the world implement stricter measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus, industries that normally gain from a depreciating currency and the broader economy review mba asap 10 minutes to risk losing out. The Australian dollar is affected by changes in global monetary policy, with easing of foreign monetary policy causing upward pressure. When interest rates in other countries decrease relative to Australia, our assets become more attractive for global investors.

Switching to the Euro, EUR/AUD has been in a cautious downtrend since August.
The Australian dollar is down against most other currencies like the euro, pound, yen and kiwi dollar.
It dropped almost an entire percentage point on Thursday to USD 63.64 cents, marking a nine-month low for Australia’s national currency.
The fear at this juncture is that the Australian dollar has further to fall.
“The board expects that further tightening of monetary policy will be needed to ensure that inflation returns to target and that this period of high inflation is only temporary,” the RBA governor, Philip Lowe, said in a statement.
On the other hand, if it was someone from America wanting to buy a $AUD1,500 laptop from an Australian store, the price of the laptop in US dollars would now be $1,050 USD, compared to $950 USD in October.

The Reserve Bank of Australia held a meeting on September 5 to discuss the interest rate. And second, there is a factor that is more critical than RBA decisions (even in the case of changes). More recently, the US dollar and commodities such as oil have traded in the same direction. Attrill attributes the shift in part to supply mayhem, particularly in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which have masked the actual supply-demand balance. The difference in those two interest rates – which might yet widen further – will steer investors to buy US dollars and sell Australian dollars. The looming threat of a global recession played a central role in AUD weakness in 2022.

Get news & tips delivered

The weakness was largely because the US dollar index (which tracks the greenback against major currencies) had risen to its highest level in two decades, on increased safe-haven demand. It has fallen more than 4% since the middle of the year but is predicted to edge up next year. Top banks in Australia and New Zealand have a less pessimistic outlook for the Aussie (AUD) compared to the Kiwi (NZD) – reflected in their AUDNZD exchange rate forecasts in 2022. Generally, their outlook for the NZD is more negative compared to the AUD. On the AUD front, its economic docket was absent though the latest China data portrays the economy continues to struggle despite the latest government stimulus aimed at helping the country to achieve its growth target of 5%. In addition, geopolitical tensions in the Middle East would continue to favor flows toward safe-haven assets, to the detriment of risk-perceived currencies, like the Aussie Dollar (AUD).

What would happen if interest rates were negative?

Commodity exports to China make up a big portion of the economy so a drop in these exports, directly impacts the Australian economy and drives down the value of the currency. Most global currencies rose from their bottoms against the US dollar in November 2022 after October US inflation data came in lower than expected. The market moved quickly to price in a slower pace of US Fed rate hikes going forward. Inflation changes interest rates because central banks aim for only moderate inflation.

Is Australia out of recession?

Lower interest rates lead to a rise in housing prices and wealth, which in turn boosts consumer spending due to increased confidence. It’s buffeted by pricing factors – for iron ore, coal, gas and wheat – but with little room for manipulation from our government or central bank. Major economies all tried to keep a lid on their currencies and, in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, actively fought to push them lower to gain a trade advantage over rivals. Analysts expected inflation to remain the near-term focus for most central banks including the RBA. In contrast, the US dollar index (DXY), which tracks the performance of the USD against a basket of major currencies, rose to its highest level in 20 years on the back of aggressive interest rate hikes from the US Fed.

Introducing your Newsfeed

Just remember to stay updated with the news and conduct thorough research if you want to profit from trades involving AUDUSD or other assets. Whether they pass on the cost to consumers will depend on their pricing power, Attrill says. The value of shares and ETFs bought through a share dealing account can fall as well as rise, which could mean getting back less than you originally put in. Australia has avoided the worst effects of a recession for almost 30 years but 2023 may be the year of a recession – if inflation keeps rising. But activity indicators will be a guide to the extent that demand and hence inflationary pressures are abating,” said ANZ Research. AUD extended its outperformance against USD in 2023 with AUD/USD rates gaining 1.3 year-to-date (YTD) as of 20 February.

Does structural change contribute to productivity growth?

The US economy’s surprising strength has led to expectations that the federal reserve will raise its key interest rate again beyond the July increase to a range of 5.25%-5.5%. This week, the Australian dollar sank to as low as US63.63c, the lowest since last November. Excluding that dip, and a sharper one during the early Covid pandemic panic – when it was buying only about US57c – the dollar hasn’t been this weak against the greenback since the global financial crisis in 2009.

The Reserve Bank of Australia has decided to maintain the current interest rate of 0.1 per cent, which is the historic low rate since November 2020. This has been done even after the inflation vantage fx broker review figures have increased and there is a rise in the cost of living. The ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence index fell by 0.2 per cent last week to a 20-month low of 90.5 points.

The ASX 200 dropped 1.4 per cent, to close at 6,668 points, with nearly every stock trading lower.

Traditionally, if commodity prices went up, so did the dollar, and vice versa. The Australian and New Zealand dollar are often seen by investors as a proxy for China because of the economy’s trade exposure. Australia’s exports to China (including Hong Kong) are about as large as the next four partners combined.