Last week, I wrote that shorting AUD/NZD is my favorite trade. At that time, I said that if the currency pair rallies back above 1.31, then the uptrend has resumed and my call is wrong. However, AUD/NZD tortured me and came within 2 pips of 1.31 (1.3098) before reversing sharply lower. There is no major support in the currency pair until 1.2775, but as indicators adjust to the movements in price, so have support levels. The 1.2850 level is now the new support and that’s where I am targeting.
On a side note, I am kicking myself for not posting an official call because the moves have become deeply oversold in these currencies. However I think USD/CAD is going test parity (currently at 1.0105) and EUR/GBP is could fall to at least 0.8915 (now 0.8975).
Here is my dissection of the March 16 Fed Statement
FOMC Statement March 16, 2010
Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in January suggests that economic activity has continued to strengthen and that the labor market is stabilizing (upgraded “from deterioration in the labor market is abating”). Household spending is expanding at a moderate rate but remains constrained by high unemployment (upgraded from weak labor market), modest income growth, lower housing wealth, and tight credit. Business spending on equipment and software has risen significantly (upgraded from appears to be picking up). However, investment in nonresidential structures is declining, housing starts have been flat at a depressed level(concern about housing returns) , and employers remain reluctant to add to payrolls. While bank lending continues to contract, financial market conditions remain supportive of economic growth. Although the pace of economic recovery is likely to be moderate for a time, the Committee anticipates a gradual return to higher levels of resource utilization in a context of price stability.
With substantial resource slack continuing to restrain cost pressures and longer-term inflation expectations stable, inflation is likely to be subdued for some time.
The Committee will maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent and continues to anticipate that economic conditions, including low rates of resource utilization, subdued inflation trends, and stable inflation expectations, are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period (here are the words again). To provide support to mortgage lending and housing markets and to improve overall conditions in private credit markets, the Federal Reserve has been purchasing $1.25 trillion of agency mortgage-backed securities and about $175 billion of agency debt; those purchases are nearing completion, and the remaining transactions will be executed by the end of this month (Fed ending asset purchases). The Committee will continue to monitor the economic outlook and financial developments and will employ its policy tools as necessary to promote economic recovery and price stability (New!).
In light of improved functioning of financial markets, the Federal Reserve has been closing the special liquidity facilities that it created to support markets during the crisis. The only remaining such program, the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, is scheduled to close on June 30 for loans backed by new-issue commercial mortgage-backed securities and on March 31 for loans backed by all other types of collateral (Fed ends liquidity facilities!).
Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman; William C. Dudley, Vice Chairman; James Bullard; Elizabeth A. Duke; Donald L. Kohn; Sandra Pianalto; Eric S. Rosengren; Daniel K. Tarullo; and Kevin M. Warsh. Voting against the policy action was Thomas M. Hoenig, who believed that continuing to express the expectation of exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period was no longer warranted because it could lead to the buildup of financial imbalances and increase risks to longer-run macroeconomic and financial stability (Hoenig elaborates on dissent).
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My favorite forex trade right now is shorting AUD/NZD.
After hitting a 9 year high of 1.3124 last week, the rally in AUD/NZD is losing steam. I should have posted about this earlier, but I think there is still room for the currency pair to fall.
Last week, the Reserve Bank of Australia raised interest rates by 25bp to 4 percent but hinted that from here on forward, they will begin to slow down their pace of tightening. Having already doled out 80 to 90 percent of their planned rate hikes, the focus will now turn to the RBNZ who has not even started to raise interest rates. Granted, the Australian economy is doing far better than the New Zealand economy, it is time for New Zealand to catch up. In January, New Zealand turned its first trade surplus after 7 months of consecutive deficits and in February, business confidence hit a 10 year high. Yes my friends, a TEN YEAR HIGH. With numbers as strong as these, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand will most likely grow more hawkish, paving the way for a rate hike later this year.
Furthermore, 25% of New Zealand’s exports go to China and 25% go to Australia. Therefore the combination of higher commodity prices and strong growth in NZ’s most important trade partners should encourage the RBNZ to adopt a more optimistic tone when they meet later this week.
Finally AUD/NZD presents a good risk reward opportunity from a technical basis. It is currently trading at 1.2975 and if it rallies back above 1.31, the uptrend has resumed. Otherwise, there is no major support in AUD/NZD until 1.2775
Kathy Lien is employed as Co-Head of Global Research for Global Forex Trading, a division of Global Futures & Forex, Ltd. (GFT). However, the KathyLien.com web site is maintained by Kathy Lien personally, and is separate and independent from her employment with GFT. GFT does not control the content of the KathyLien.com web site, and opinions expressed by Kathy on the KathyLien.com web site are not necessarily the opinions of GFT.
March 17, 2010 
Posted in Australian Dollar, Forex Technicals, aud/usd, forex blog 
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