Investing.com - The Japanese yen and Australian dollar ticked up in early Asian trade Monday ahead of current account and housing finance data respectively with the focus squarely back on the Federal Reserve's USD85 billion a month bond buying program after strong U.S. jobs data last week.
USD/JPY hit 99.15, up 0.07% ahead of September current account data at 0850 local time (2350 GMT) with a forecast for a surplus of JPY400 billion, from a surplus of JPY162 billion in August. AUD/USD traded at 0.9384, up 0.03% ahead of September housing finance data at 1130 local time (0030 GMT) expected to show a gain of 4.0%, compared to a drop of 3.9% in August.
Last week, USD strengthened against the other main currencies after a stronger-than-forecast U.S. jobs report for October fuelled expectations that the Federal Reserve could start to taper its stimulus program as soon as next month.
The U.S. economy added 204,000 jobs in October, the Department of Labor said Friday, significantly higher than the 125,000 expected by economists. The unemployment rate ticked up to 7.3% from an almost five year low of 7.2% the previous month.
The report came one day after official data showed that the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 2.8% in the three months to September, well above expectations for growth of 2%.
In the week ahead, investors will be closely watching Thursday’s Senate hearing to confirm Janet Yellen as the first chairwoman of the Federal Reserve.
Among other key data events, the euro zone and Japan are to release preliminary data on third quarter growth. The Bank of England is to publish its closely watched quarterly inflation report and the National Bank of Australia will release a survey on Australia business confidence and conditions.
USD/JPY hit 99.15, up 0.07% ahead of September current account data at 0850 local time (2350 GMT) with a forecast for a surplus of JPY400 billion, from a surplus of JPY162 billion in August. AUD/USD traded at 0.9384, up 0.03% ahead of September housing finance data at 1130 local time (0030 GMT) expected to show a gain of 4.0%, compared to a drop of 3.9% in August.
Last week, USD strengthened against the other main currencies after a stronger-than-forecast U.S. jobs report for October fuelled expectations that the Federal Reserve could start to taper its stimulus program as soon as next month.
The U.S. economy added 204,000 jobs in October, the Department of Labor said Friday, significantly higher than the 125,000 expected by economists. The unemployment rate ticked up to 7.3% from an almost five year low of 7.2% the previous month.
The report came one day after official data showed that the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 2.8% in the three months to September, well above expectations for growth of 2%.
In the week ahead, investors will be closely watching Thursday’s Senate hearing to confirm Janet Yellen as the first chairwoman of the Federal Reserve.
Among other key data events, the euro zone and Japan are to release preliminary data on third quarter growth. The Bank of England is to publish its closely watched quarterly inflation report and the National Bank of Australia will release a survey on Australia business confidence and conditions.