FOREX News and Overnight Technical Levels - August 31st

Fundamental Headlines

-    USDJPY - Core consumer prices rose higher than expected, remains unchanged for the month of August.  The figure is encouraging for interest rate increases in the short term as they beat consensus estimates of -0.1 percent.

-    Japanese unemployment ticked lower to a rate of 3.6 percent compared to consensus estimates of 3.7 percent.  Industrial production was subsequently as expected.  Both figures purport a healthy economy.

-    AUDUSD - Australian retail sales for the month of July advanced higher than expected, printed 0.9 percent month over month increase.  July?s deficit also showed improvement, narrowing to A$756 million.

-    EURUSD - August consumer price report shows as expected rise of 1.8 percent on the annualized comparison.  Unemployment rate was also as expected at 6.9 percent.  However, consumer weakness was seen through a less than exemplary July retail sales figure.  Sales increased by only 0.3 percent on the monthly, lower than expected.

-    GBPUSD - Consumer confidence was higher than expected in the month of August for the UK.  May lead to a much better than expected retail sales report in the near future.

 Written by: Richard Lee, Currency Strategist