Australia might not do what everyone thinks it's going to do - here's what's happening in FX
The Australian dollar strengthened by as much as 0.9% after the release of the Reserve Bank of Australia's May monetary policy meeting minutes.
The meeting suggested that the board may hold of on cutting rates. Previously, markets have been expecting the bank to cut rates at least once in the next 12 months.
The currency is up by 0.4% at 0.7317 as of 7:57 a.m. ET.
As for the rest of the world, here's the scoreboard:
- The British pound strengthened by as much as 0.6% at 1.4481 after UK inflation slowed for the first time since September. Consumer prices in the UK rose 0.3% year-over-year in April, down from the 0.5% gain in March . This was the first time in eight months that UK price gains slowed from their previous month.
- The Japanese yen is weaker by 0.4% at 109.43 per dollar. "Speculators in the futures markets are holding a gross and net long yen position that is near record levels," wrote Marc Chandler, the global head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman, in a morning note to clients.
- The dollar index is little changed at 94.60 ahead of a busy day in economic data. CPI, housing starts, and building permits will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Later on, we'll have industrial production and capacity utilization at 9:15 a.m.