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Wednesday night, the AUD returned to its early momentum and rallied upwards following the Australian’s unemployment, which registered three times more jobs than initially forecasted.

As stated on Thursday morning GMT by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the unemployment rate fell 0.1% to 5.5% from November.

Being one of the world’s still expanding economies, the Australians are generating more jobs than expected, while China is demanding more from its neighbors in concept of raw materials; new investments and more jobs are continuing. With this, it seems that the ozzie is continuing to be strong against all the major currencies in the Forex market.

At 06:52 GMT, The Rate Range:
AUD/USD – 115 pips (0.9215-0.9230); EUR/AUD – 131 pips (1.5623-1.5754)
GBP/USD – 168 pips (1.7496-1.7664); AUD/JPY – 129 pips (84.11-85.40)

EUR Trading data: Wednesday at 12:45pm GMT, The European Central Bank’s Governing Council is scheduled to meet for the first time this year and their non-decision on rates will be published.

Expectations are that the 1.00% rate will continue today and for the next several months. ‘Perhaps’ this will change later on, but not likely at the moment. Last week, the Bank of England retained its rates at 0.50%.

The meeting that will include the President Trichet’s ECB Press Conference, will also discuss as well the implications of European weaknesses in the weaker Euro-Zones (such as Greece).
The ECB published a working paper in December that suggested that it was unlikely for a member state to leave or to be forced out of the monetary union. Actually, this could be more important than the actual Rate announcement.
Wednesday’s Lows & High:
EUR/USD – 123 pips (1.4456-1.4579); EUR/GBP – 73 pips (0.8892-0.8965)
EUR/JPY – 170 pips (131.51-133.21); EUR/NZD – 23 pips (1.9595-1.9618)

USD Trading data: At 13:30 GMT, the U.S. Unemployment Claims are expected at 438k. This seems to be even more important in today’s session due to last Fridays un-forecasted 85k decline in non-farm payroll raised the concern that the economy is not on target for a recovery, and that improvement in the labor market may have slowed – if not reversed !
The lack of new job creation will have other repercussions to the US recovery, as it will encourage the US to boost job growth even further which would be included in a new stimulus plan; linked to the increased US budget deficit.

Yesterday’s Lows & High:
USD/JPY – 65 pips (90.90-91.55); GBP/USD – 170 pips (1.6135-1.6305)
USD/CAD – 122 pips (1.0288)

On Monday, the USD rose to levels not seen in more than five weeks against a basket of currencies, extending, this way Friday’s rally, which was sparked by a better jobs report than previously expected. 

The trading patterns seem to indicate that there is much short covering of the Dollar, a theory floating through the market claims, while Forex investors scramble to adjust their holdings after the good sign from the employment data. 

Investors are now expecting the US to begin increasing its almost non-existent interest rates, helping this way to increase the Dollar’s value. 

The ICE Futures Dollar Index was trading at 76.183, a five week high.  The index follows the USD’s performance against six of the major currencies in the Forex marketplace.

At 10:45PM GMT, the US Dollar was trading up 0.87% versus the British Pound to 1.6329, up 0.61% against the Australian Dollar to 0.9089, up 0.92% to the New Zealand Dollar to 0.7095 and up 0.58% against the Swiss Franc to 1.0223.  The Dollar declined on Monday to 0.12% against  the Canadian Dollar to 1.0565 and 0.75% to the Japanese Yen to 89.92.

EUR – On Monday, the Euro surprised investors by not showing any reaction to comments made by European Central Bank President, Jean-Claude Trichet, fact that might indicate that the Eurozone economy is continuously showing signs of recovery. 

German manufacturing orders also surprised investors since the indicator took an unexpected negative turn. However,  the Euro seemed unaffected – trading mixed to higher overall on the day.

At 11:00PM GMT, the Euro was trading down 0.5% against the USD to 1.4786, down 1.09% to  the Japanese Yen to 133.08, up 0.41% to the British Pound Sterling versus 0.905, down 0.66% against  the Canadian Dollar to 1.5615, up 0.14% versus the Australian Dollar to 1.6264 and up 0.12% against the Swiss Franc to 1.5117.