AUD/USD – Trading on News Events

By Greg Holden – For traders interested in a “news trading” strategy, here is your guide. Looking at the AUD/USD over the past month, I noticed something interesting: this pair has actually been fluctuating sharply, and almost exclusively due to news events.

Look at the chart below. I’ve noted the dates of each sharp movement to help make this a bit easier. Here is the timeline:

Oct. 5: Australia’s retail sales figures came out worse than forecasts; ANZ posted smaller growth in job advertisements; and the RBA held rates steady at 4.50% due to market pessimism.

Result: AUD/USD dropped a whopping 104 pips over the span of a few hours, but rebounded once the US market opened following built-in short positions for the USD from an Oct. 4th announcement by Bernanke that the economy was in need of more easing.

Oct. 7: At 00:30 GMT, Australia posted better-than-forecast employment change data. At 12:30 GMT, US posted better-than-forecast Unemployment Claims.

Result: AUD/USD uptrend strengthened rapidly, peaking at 0.9916, followed (at 12:30 GMT) by a sharp correction due to American data.

Oct. 8: At 12:30 GMT, US published worse-than-forecast Non-Farm Payroll data.

Result: AUD/USD spiked upward 148 pips.

Oct. 14: The entire week was filled with practically no relevant data for either currency. But on Oct. 14th, the US published worse-than-expected Trade Balance and Unemployment Claims figures.

Result: AUD/USD almost reached parity, with a high price of 0.9996 on Oct. 15th.

Oct. 18-19: By now the prospects of a quantitative easing move by the Fed had grown stronger, but traders were going long on the dollar due to a higher than expected TIC Long-Term Purchases report. The pair’s downward move came to a halt, however, when the US published a negative Building Permits report on the 19th.

Oct. 25: At 00:30 GMT, Australia published stronger PPI figures than were expected. However, at 14:00 GMT, the US published much stronger housing data.

Result: The AUD/USD spiked towards 0.9975 in early trading hours, but collapsed back downward after the US housing data was published. Positive US data published on Oct. 26th continued to strengthen this downward momentum all the way through to the 27th.

Oct. 27: Aussie data came out worse than expected, driving the pair to its lowest point since Oct. 5, with a price of 0.9651.

Oct. 28: Australia’s RBA announces that more data established another decision to maintain rates where they are. Pessimism grew.

Result: The minor upward correction seen prior then turned bearish.

Oct. 29 (today): Anticipation of a positive reading from the US Advance GDP today is driving the pair lower as traders price-in a bullish USD. If the data disappoints, this pair will likely turn upward sharply like it has in the recent past.

AUD/USD – 4-Hour Chart

Forex Market Analysis provided by ForexYard.

© 2006 by FxYard Ltd

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