Forex Roundup - German confidence falls. Australian new home sales rise. | CountingPips Forex & Currency Trading Blog

July 28, 2008 - Forex Economic News

Forex Roundup - German confidence falls. Australian new home sales rise.

Forex Market News Today, in the forex market, there is a limited news release schedule with the GfK German consumer confidence survey and Australian new homes data highlighting the economic news. The week picks up tomorrow with news out of Europe(German cpi, France ppi) and then continues with important releases such as the Australian trade balance, Canadian GDP data and the market moving U.S. non-farm payrolls data later on in the week.

German consumer confidence falls in a new consumer report released today by the GfK Group.

The GfK German consumer climate survey declined in its August report to a score of 2.1 points falling from a revised score of 3.6 points in the July version. Market forecasts had expected a score of 3.5 points. Consumer economic expectations fell in the survey by 15.5 points to the -8.0 point level while income expectations fell by 12.8 points to the -20.00 level with both decreases being multi-year lows. The report cited high inflation rates and record high energy prices as well as falling economic growth and possible recession as dampening German consumers economic outlook. The report said, "Fear of shrinking purchasing power has led to a renewed reduction in the propensity to buy" and that, "many Germans are concerned that there will be a more marked cooling of the economy than previously anticipated."

The euro, despite the fall in confidence of the German consumer, has been gaining ground against the U.S. dollar in forex trading today. The euro has ended lower against the dollar for two consecutive weeks while in the process registering a new record high of 1.6038(dollars per euro).

Australian New Home Sales rise.

Australian new home sales showed an increase in June reversing the decline in May new home sales. June's new home sales increased by 4.0 percent after a fall of 5.0 percent in May according to the Economic Group of Australia's Housing Industry Association(HIA). The increase in housing sales was pushed by a 15.5 percent increase in the sale of multi-unit buildings for the month while detached house sales increased by 2.6 percent. New South Wales led Australia in new home sales with a 20.2 percent increase in June while Queensland showed the largest decline with a 9.8 percent fall.

The Australian dollar has been mixed in forex trading today against its major currency counterparts. The AUD/USD pair has been on the rise today after finishing last week with a decline and is trading near an established upward trendline on the daily chart. This week will be an important test of whether the Aussie will continue on its bullish path against the dollar and look to test parity with the dollar in the near future or has this Aussie rally almost been exhausted.

AUD/USD - Trading near rising trendline on the daily chart today.

AUD/USD Trading near trendline today.

tags: german confidence, aussie new home sales, aud, eur, usd, currency trading

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