The Australian Dollar (AUDUSD) today was slightly adjusted downwards on anticipation of tomorrow's macroeconomic data. At 00-30 GMT ( 0) we expect the trade balance and retail sales for December. We believe that the preliminary forecasts are negative. In general, the Forex market participants believe that yesterday's rise of Aussie was partially due to closing of short positions after the RBA announcement. They will follow the macroeconomic indicators . Yesterday the strong UK construction PMI came out for January. Its rise from 62.1 to 64.6 points was the highest since August 2007. Placing the Covernment bonds also was not bad. The demand was 1.5 times increased. Nevertheless strenghthening of the Pound (GBPUSD), ( growth on the chart ) was insignificant. Investors expect the inflation data comig out next week that will affect the decision to increase interest rates. Today at 9-30 GMT ( 0) we are awaiting the index of purchasing managers in the services sector. The forecast is slightly positive. The Canadian Dollar (USDCAD) strengthened (fall on the graph), as we assumed in the previous report. Today at 13-30 GMT (0) , there are the data on the real estate market in December expected to come out. They can cause to the continuation of the yesterday downtrend in case they match the forecasts or better than expected . Daily rise in wheat prises (WHEAT) is 3.7% on Tuesday was the highest in the last ten months. As we predicted in previous reviews, investors win the risk of crop reduction because of extreme cold weather in the United States back. USDA lowered its forecast for the corp of winter wheat in Kansas from 58% to 35% for December.
The natural gas prices in the U.S. (NATGAS) are experiencing strong fluctuations, but they are still in the uptrend. The Chicago Stock Exchange (CME Group) increased the margin on futures to the highest level since October 2009. As we have noted in previous reviews, the U.S. natural gas now costs about $ 175 per thousand cubic meters. Its price is higher by more than two times in Europe and four times more expensive in Asia. In case of reduction in shale gas production in the U.S. , the cost of the (NATGAS) contract has considerable potential for growth and it is not related to the weather in America. The additional factor of increasing the gas prices is the forecast of increasing its use as a vehicle fuel in the world from 5 billion cubic meters in 2012 to 160 billion cubic meters in 2030.