Tide is Turning for the Aussie
“Australia is about to enter a boom that should last decades…The Australian dollar is unlikely to go back to where it was, and manufacturing will shrink in importance to the economy, perhaps even faster than it has been.” This, according to Martin Parkinson, Treasury Minister of Australia. While 30 years from now, Mr. Parkinson’s prognosis might probe to be accurate, I’m not so sure it applies to the period 3 months from now. Here’s why:
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Aussie is Breaking Away from Kiwi
The correlation between the Australian Dollar and New Zealand Dollar is among the strongest that exists between two currencies. Given their regional bond and similar dependence on commodities to drive economic growth, perhaps this is no wonder. Over the last year, however, the Aussie has slowly broken away from the Kiwi. While the correlation between the two remains strong, the emergence of distinct narratives has given rise to a clear chasm, which can be seen in the chart below. Given that the NZD is evidently among the most overvalued currencies in the world, does that mean the same can be said about the AUD?
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Can the Australian Dollar Hold on to Record Gains?
The volatility of the last couple weeks has manifested itself in some unbelievable outcomes. In this post, I want to focus specifically on the Australian Dollar. When the Japanese disasters struck, the Aussie immediately tanked, as investors jettisoned risk and moved towards safe haven currencies. Only days later, it inexplicably rose 5%, en route to parity and a 28-year high against the US Dollar. The question is: will the Aussie hold on to these gains, or will it return to earth as soon as the markets come to terms with the misalignment with fundamentals?
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This “Stock Market Sensitive” Currency Could Tumble Along with Stocks Soon!
If there was every a “stock market sensitive” currency, it’s the Australian dollar.
You see, when traders/investors are willing to stick their necks out enough to get into stocks, they are also willing to go into riskier, higher yielding currencies at the same time.
In fact, you can see how closely the Aussie (AUD/USD) tracks U.S. stocks by checking out the chart below. Click on the chart to enlarge it.
The S&P 500 is Overdue for a Sizable Correction…And So is the Aussie Dollar!
Then when you apply Elliott Wave analysis, you can see that the S&P 500 has already completed its “5 waves up” pattern. Now it’s time for a “3 waves correction” downward against that uptrend. In fact, you can look at the yellow arrow on the chart to see how this may play out.
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Aussie May Have Peaked in 2010
When offering forecasts for 2011, I feel like I can just take the stock phrase “______ is due for a correction” and apply it to one of any number of currencies. But let’s face it: 2009 – 2010 were banner years for commodity currencies and emerging market currencies, as investors shook off the credit crisis and piled back into risky assets. As a result, a widespread correction might be just what the doctor ordered, starting with the Australian Dollar.
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Betting on China Via Australia
There are plenty of investors that think betting on China is as close to a sure thing as there could possibly be. The only problem is that investing directly in China’s economic freight train is complicated, opaque, and sometimes impossible. The Chinese government maintains strict capital controls, prohibits foreigners from directly owning certain types of investment vehicles, and prevents the Chinese Yuan from appreciating too quickly, if at all. For those that want exposure to China without all of the attendant risks, there is a neat alternative: the Australian Dollar (AUD).
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Australia Dollar Ebbs and Flows with Risk
If you chart the course of the Australian Dollar over the last twelve months alongside the S&P 500, the overlap is jarring. You can see from the chart below that the two lines zig and zag in almost perfect unison. It would seem that there was a slight break in the second quarter of 2010, but even this is an illusion, since the Aussie and the S&P continued to rise and fall in the same patterns over that time period, differing only in degree of fluctuation.
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New Zealand Dollar Thriving in Obscurity
It’s understandable that forex investors basically ignore New Zealand. Its economy is around 10% the size of its neighbor Australia, its currency is less liquid, and spreads are higher. Given that its performance closely tracks the Australian Dollar, meanwhile, why pay it any attention?
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Risk Aversion Hits Australian Dollar
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Why is the Loonie Beating the Aussie?
It sounds like the beginning to a bad joke, right? But seriously, why is the Canadian Dollar (aka Loonie) beating the Australian Dollar (AUD) when the two currencies are placed head-to-head?
The currency markets tend to be very Dollar-Centric, in that they tend to view most currencies relative to the US Dollar (and to a lesser extent, the Euro), rather than to each other. When it comes to the Aussie and Loonie, then, traders at the moment seem content to see them as relatively strong, since both are appreciating against the Dollar. After all, the AUD/CAD pair accounts for only a small fraction of overall trading activity, which means that liquidity is lower and spreads are higher. Why bother?
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