The price of crude oil was little changed in the overnight session even as many US producers shut down their oil rigs following Hurricane Ida. Brent, the international benchmark, is trading at $71.25 while the West Texas Intermediate is trading at $68.77. This price action is mostly because the market was expecting the closure of these rigs as the hurricane season went on. Later today, the price will react to the latest inventories numbers by the American Petroleum Institute (API). The median estimate by a panel by Reuters expect that inventories declined by more than 2.8 million barrels last week.
The AUD/USD was in a tight range in early trading as the market reflected on the relatively weak data from Australia and China. In Australia, data showed that building approvals declined by 8.6% in July after falling by 5.5% in the previous month. Similarly, the country’s housing credit increased by 0.6% in July after rising by 0.7% in the previous month. Additionally, private house approvals declined by 5.8%. This price action was mostly because of the new wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, in China, data by China Logistics revealed that the manufacturing PMI declined to 50.1 while non-manufacturing PMI fell to 47.5.
The economic calendar will have some key events today. In Europe, the key data to watch will be the flash Eurozone consumer inflation data. Analysts expect the data to show that the headline CPI rose from 2.2% in July to 2.7% in August. This increase is mostly because of the rising logistics challenges going on globally. In the UK, the Bank of England (BOE) will publish the latest mortgage approvals data. Meanwhile, in Canada, the statistics agency will release the latest GDP data. Most importantly, in the US, the Conference Board will publish the latest consumer confidence data.
AUDUSD
The AUDUSD price was little changed after the relatively weak Chinese and Australian economic data. It is trading at 0.7290, which is substantially higher than last week’s low of 0.7105. On the four-hour chart, the pair has formed a V-shaped recovery and moved above the 25-day and 15-day moving averages. The current level is relatively important since it was the lowest level on June 20. Therefore, the pair will likely keep rising as bulls target the key resistance at 0.7350.
EURUSD
The EURUSD pair rose to an intraday high of 1.1805 during the Asian session. On the four-hour chart, the pair managed to move above the key resistance level at 1.1780 and the 25-day moving average. It has also formed an inverted head and shoulders pattern, which is usually a bullish sign. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) has also formed a bullish divergence pattern. Therefore, the pair will likely keep rising as bulls target the key resistance at 1.1900.
AUDNZD
The AUDNZD crashed to the lowest level since April last year after the weak Australian data. It fell to an intraday low of 1.0340, which was also substantially higher than last year’s high of 1.1047. On the daily chart, the pair moved below the key support level at 1.0418. It also declined below the 25-day and 15-day moving averages. Therefore, the path of the least resistance for the pair is to the downside.
