Industry policy cannot offset the Australian dollar | MacroBusiness

Houses & Holes at Macrobusiness writes:

Adding a couple of $100 million to industry innovation support is just not going to cut it. Our authorities should do exactly what the rest of the world is doing. Go to the G20 and join the chorus of indignity directed at currency manipulation, come home and drive down using every available tool. That is essentially what the recommendations of the Manufacturing Taskforce aimed at doing. If you think nothing can be done, ask yourself, why are we the only ones not doing it?

Read more at Industry policy cannot offset the Australian dollar | | MacroBusiness.

Australian Dollar

The Aussie Dollar is forming an ascending flag after breaking resistance at $1.02 on the 2-Hour chart. Reversal below $1.025 would retrace to at least $1.01, while upward breakout from the flag would offer a target of $1.05*.

Australian Dollar/USD

* Target calculation: 1.03 + ( 1.02 – 1.00 ) = 1.05

Forex: Australia, Canada, South Africa

Canada’s Loonie may be strengthening against the Aussie Dollar but is headed for another test of primary support at $0.95 against the greenback. Reversal of 63-day Twiggs Momentum below zero warns of a primary down-trend. Failure of support at $0.95 would confirm.

Canadian Dollar

* Target calculation: 0.95 – ( 1.02 – 0.95 ) = 0.88

The Australian Dollar is following commodities lower, headed for a test of primary support at $0.96. 63-Day Twiggs Momentum below zero warns of a primary down-trend. Breach of support at $0.96 would warn of a primary down-trend with a long-term target of $0.84. Recovery above $1.02 is unlikely but would indicate another test of $1.08.

Australian Dollar

* Target calculation: 0.96 – ( 1.08 – 0.96 ) = 0.84

The Australian Dollar respected resistance at R8.30 against the South African Rand. Expect another test of R7.90. Breach would warn of a decline to R7.50*. 63-Day Twiggs Momentum oscillating close to zero indicates uncertainty and breakout above R8.30 would test long-term resistance at R8.50.

Australian Dollar/South African Rand

* Target calculation: 8.00 – ( 8.50 – 8.00 ) = 7.50

Forex: Australia, Canada, South Africa

Canada’s Loonie broke support at $0.995 and the rising trendline against the greenback, indicating another test of primary support at $0.95. Reversal of 63-day Twiggs Momentum below zero warns of a primary down-trend. Failure of support at $0.95 would confirm.

Canadian Dollar

The Australian Dollar is expected to follow commodities lower, testing primary support at $0.96. 63-Day Twiggs Momentum below zero warns of another primary decline. Recovery above $1.02 is unlikely but would indicate an advance to $1.08.

Australian Dollar

The Australian Dollar strengthened against the South African Rand, but respect of resistance at R8.30 would warn of a decline to R7.50*. Breach of support at R7.90 would confirm. 63-Day Twiggs Momentum oscillating close to zero indicates uncertainty, however, and breakout above R8.30 would test long-term resistance at R8.50.

Australian Dollar/South African Rand

* Target calculation: 8.00 – ( 8.50 – 8.00 ) = 7.50

Forex: Australia, Canada and South Africa

Weakening commodity prices are dragging the Australian Dollar lower against the greenback. Breach of support at $1.02 indicates another test of primary support at $0.96. Reversal of 63-day Twiggs Momentum below zero already warns of a primary down-trend. Failure of primary support at $0.96 would confirm, offering a long-term target of $0.84*.

Australian Dollar/US Dollar

* Target calculation: 0.96 – ( 1.08 – 0.96 ) = 0.84

Canada’s Loonie is strengthening against the Australian Dollar, having penetrated its long-term descending trendline and with 63-day Twiggs Momentum recovering above zero. Breakout above parity would signal the start of a primary up-trend.
Canadian Dollar/Australian Dollar

The Loonie retreated against the greenback, testing support at $0.995 after a false break above $1.01. Failure of support would confirm a bull trap and test primary support at $0.95. Recovery above $1.01 remains as likely, however, and would signal a primary advance; respect of zero by 63-day Twiggs Momentum would strengthen the signal.

Canadian Dollar/US Dollar

* Target calculation: 1.01 + ( 1.01 – 0.96 ) = 1.06

The Aussie found support at R7.90 against the South African Rand. 63-Day Twiggs Momentum remains weak and reversal below zero would indicate a primary down-trend. Failure of support at R7.90 would warn of a correction to R7.50*. Recovery above R8.30, however, would signal a fresh primary advance.

Australian Dollar/South African Rand

* Target calculation: 8.00 – ( 8.50 – 8.00 ) = 7.50

Forex: Australia, Canada and South Africa

The Australian dollar has tracked the CRB Commodities Index fairly closely since 2009. Weakening commodity prices warn that the Aussie is likely to follow.

CRB Commodities Index and Australian Dollar

Against the US dollar, the Aussie is headed  for another test of support at $1.02. Reversal of 63-day Twiggs Momentum below zero warns of a primary down-trend. Failure of support at $1.02 would confirm this, offering an initial target of $0.99.

Australian Dollar

* Target calculation: 1.02 – ( 1.05 – 1.02 ) = 0.99

Canada’s Loonie is in a primary up-trend against the Aussie dollar — as signaled by the 63-day Twiggs Momentum cross to above zero. Breakout above $0.982 completes a bullish ascending triangle formation with a target of parity.

Canadian Dollar

* Target calculation: 0.98 + ( 0.98 – 0.96 ) = 1.00

The Aussie is also weakening against the South African Rand. Cross of 63-day Twiggs Momentum below zero warns of a primary down-trend. Failure of support at R7.90 would confirm, offering an initial target of R7.50*.

South African Rand

* Target calculation: 8.00 – ( 8.50 – 8.00 ) = 7.50

Forex: Aussie Dollar & Canada's Loonie

The Aussie Dollar broke medium-term support at $1.04 — in response to lower than expected resources exports to China and RBA hints at further rate cuts. Expect a strong correction, testing parity and possibly primary support at $0.97. Reversal of 63-day Twiggs Momentum below zero would indicate trend weakness but suggests a ranging market, with the indicator oscillating around zero, rather than a primary down-trend.

Australian Dollar/USD

Canada’s Loonie is more resilient because of stronger crude oil prices. 63-Day Twiggs Momentum holding above zero indicates a primary up-trend. Breakout above $1.01 would signal an advance to $1.06. Reversal below $0.995 is less likely but would warn of another correction — especially if crude oil weakens.

Canadian Dollar/USD

* Target calculation: 1.01 + ( 1.01 – 0.96 ) = 1.06

Forex: Aussie, Loonie, Rand

Canada’s Loonie, buoyed by rising oil prices, is testing resistance at $1.01/$1.015. Narrow consolidation suggests an upward breakout and advance to the 2011 high of $1.06*. 63-Day Twiggs Momentum above zero also indicates a primary advance.

Canadian Dollar/USD

* Target calculation: 1.01 + ( 1.00 – 0.95 ) = 1.06

The Australian Dollar, dragged lower by weaker commodity prices, is testing medium-term support at $1.04 on the Weekly chart. Respect of the rising trendline is more likely and would indicate a breakout above the ascending triangle at $1.08.  Long-term target for an advance would be $1.20 but that seems unachievable in the near-term. Breach of the rising trendline is less likely, but would warn of a correction back to $0.96; and reversal of 63-day Twiggs Momentum below zero would indicate a primary down-trend.

Australian Dollar

* Target calculation: 1.08 + ( 1.08 – 0.96 ) = 1.20

The Aussie Dollar breached support against the South African Rand at R8.00 on the Daily chart. Follow-through below R7.90 would confirm a correction to $7.60*. Breach of the long-term rising trendline, however, would warn of a primary down-trend.

AUD/South African Rand

* Target calculation: 8.05 – ( 8.45 – 8.05 ) = 7.60

RBA gambles on China – MacroBusiness

Glenn Stevens: Those at home [Australia] see this as well. As consumers, they have responded to the higher exchange rate with record levels of international travel. As producers, however, they also see, with increasing clarity, that the rise in the relative price of natural resources amounts to a global and epochal shift, which carries important implications for economic structure in Australia, as it does everywhere else. Some sectors of the economy will grow in importance as they invest and employ to take advantage of higher prices. Other sectors will get relatively smaller, particularly in the traded sector, as they face relatively lower prices for their products and competition for inputs from the stronger sectors. The exchange rate response to this shift in fundamentals is sending very clearly the signal to shift the industry mix, though this would occur at any exchange rate. The shift in relative prices is a shift in global prices that is more or less invariant to the level of the Australian dollar…..

Delusional Economics: And there is the China gamble laid bare for all to see. It is true that in relative pricing terms Australia’s income has increased but, as the Governor alludes to, the prices we are paying for cheaper imports is a hollowing out of some industries and a corresponding restructuring of the labour force. By not intervening via monetary and/or fiscal policy in the capital flows associated with the commodities boom the government and the RBA have made it clear that a restructure of the economy will be the outcome.

However, as I have pointed out in my analysis of Europe , and Mr Stevens goes on to say later in the speech, structural change is difficult and expensive. By allowing the economy to restructure in this way we are making a one-way bet on China. That is, if we’ve got it wrong on Beijing, we are in seriously deep trouble because there is no Plan B.

via RBA gambles on China – MacroBusiness.

Forex update: Euro breaks support

The euro broke through primary support at $1.32, warning of another primary decline with a target of $1.22*. Declining 63-day Twiggs Momentum indicates a strong primary down-trend.
Euro

* Target calculation: 1.32 – ( 1.42 – 1.32 ) = 1.22

Pound Sterling is testing primary support at $1.54, while 63-day Twiggs Momentum is below zero. Failure of support would signal a primary decline to $1.46.

Pound Sterling

* Target calculation: 1.54 – ( 1.62 – 1.54 ) = 1.46

The Aussie Dollar retreated below parity, indicating another test of medium term support at $0.97. Failure would test primary support at $0.94/$0.95. Respect of the zero line by 63-day Twiggs Momentum indicates a continuing primary down-trend. Weakening commodity prices, especially coal and iron ore, should strengthen the down-trend.

Australian Dollar

* Target calculation: 0.97 – ( 1.03 – 0.97 ) = 0.91

The Canadian Loonie is headed for a test of primary support at $0.94/$0.95. 63-Day Twiggs Momentum holding below zero suggests a continuing primary down-trend.

Canadian Dollar

* Target calculation: 0.95 – ( 1.00 – 0.95 ) = 0.90

A monthly chart of the Greenback against the Yen shows strong bullish divergence on 63-day Twiggs Momentum, suggesting reversal of the primary down-trend. Breakout above ¥80 and the descending trendline would confirm the signal.

Japanese Yen

The US Dollar continues in a strong up-trend against both the South African Rand and Brazilian Real, helped by falling commodity prices. Breakout above R8.60 would signal a further advance to R9.20.

South African Rand and Brazilian Real

* Target calculation: 8.60 + ( 8.60 – 8.00 ) = 9.20