* A couple of economic releases impacted the risk sentiment, including the Chinese New loans and the Italian CPI report.
* AUDUSD was the main loser, as it fell sharply and traded below the 0.6900 level.
* Chinese New loans, released by People’s Bank of China posted a reading of 597.8B, less than the forecast of 700.0B.
* Spanish Consumer Price Index released by the National Institute of Statistics, which posted a decline of 0.3% in December 2015, just as the market expected.
Spanish Consumer Price Index
Today, the Spanish Consumer Price Index, which is a measure of price movements by the comparison between the retail prices of a representative shopping basket of goods and services was released by the National Institute of Statistics. The forecast was lined up for a decline of 0.3% in December 2015, compared with the preceding month. The outcome was as forecasted, but we cannot discard the fact that the last increase was 0.4%.
However, when we look at the yearly change, then there no change in the CPI in December 2015, compared with the same month a year ago. During the last time there was a decline of 0.3%.
Moreover, the Italian Consumer Price Index was also released. The report stated that “December 2015 the Italian consumer price index for the whole nation (NIC) held steady on monthly basis and rose by 0.1 with respect to December 2014 (the same annual rate of change observed in November 2015). The flash estimate was confirmed”.
Overall, the outcomes were not encouraging. The risk sentiment was already under pressure during the start of Asian session, as the Chinese New loans, released by People’s Bank of China came in at 597.8B, less than the forecast of 700.0B.
Technical Analysis – AUDUSD
The AUDUSD pair is under a lot of bearish pressure and it looks like it may continue to trade lower. The pair settled below a major support area of 0.6950 area, which represents a crucial pivot. There are chances of it trading further lower if sellers remain in control.
Have a great weekend!
Yours,
Vladimir
