World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meetings – Day 1, this time is held in Davos for Bankers, Political, trade & finance Ministers and Commercial leaders from around 90 countries. Can influent market volatility.

Australia publishes official house price figures only once per quarter. During each quarter, there are unofficial releases such as the MI Inflation Gauge that provide some insight. The signs of weaker inflation were seen, but the official release was important, given the surprise.

In the US, New Home Sales leading monthly report to value the new sold households on the last month, is about to rise from 295K on September up to 302K now.

The big question of the character of the Chinese “landing” (slowdown) is looming on the markets. Official Chinese GDP in Q3 came out lower than expected. We’ll now get an independent assessment of the Chinese economy.

In the US, Durable Goods Orders, leading measurement to value the difference in new purchase orders that were made by builders, a reduce from 2.1% on June to 0.4% this time is expected and on the Core Durable Goods Orders (excluding transportation items) is due to reduce by 0.2% from 0.5% last month to 0.7%.

The meeting minutes from the recent rate decision were quite mixed. It seems that the RBA is waiting for more data to emerge. This will be provided now. The surprising rise in import prices suggest that PPI and CPI will be higher, pushing for a rate hike sooner than later.

The Aussie enjoyed the greenback’s weakness as well as its own strength. The stronger-than-expected PPI, at 1.2% in Q1, builds up expectations for the CPI release.

Chinese figures were rather good in the past week – GDP rose by 9.8% in Q4, better than expected after hints of slow growth, and inflation still isn’t out of control, extreme tightening measures are necessary, at least not yet. Will the Aussie enjoy this?

In the US, Durable Goods Orders –a Drop of 1.3% in New Orders for Durable Goods was witnessed last month due to volatile transportation equipment of non-defense aircraft component. The Core Durable Goods Orders excluding transportation equipment rose 1.7% well above expectations of 0.9% increase. A smaller rise of 0.4% is expected in the Core Durable Goods while a nice rise of 1.5% is forecasted for the Durable Goods this time.

After a roller coaster week, the upcoming week is all about the future rate decision, with inflation numbers being the highlights. Here’s an outlook for the Australian events and an updated technical analysis for AUD/USD.

AUD/USD daily chart with support and resistance lines marked. Click to enlarge: