Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar has opened this morning in the mid 1.0300's after the release of US GDP for Q3 on Friday evening was slightly higher at 2% than the 1.8% expected.

Australia: After the release of the GDP figure which revealed that the US private sector accounted for 1.3% of this growth in Q3 with the government sector contributing 0.7%, financial markets moved very little with European equity indices up only slightly while the US market finished virtually flat.

The AUD rose from its lows of the day but still traded in a very modest range. On Friday Fitch reaffirmed Australia's AAA credit rating which the other two major rating agencies all agree with making Australia only one of seven countries whose sovereign debt status is the highest rating possible.

This morning there are reports that the RBA may have been accumulating higher levels of foreign exchange reserves in August and September than what has been their habit in the recent past.

It is believed as much as AUD863m has been accumulated recently which is considerably higher than the AUD54m which has been the monthly average over the last two and one half years. This might weigh on the AUD in the short term but we would expect there would be no sharp selloff.

This week is fairly light for local data releases with new home sales for September scheduled for tomorrow followed by building approvals and private sector growth on Wednesday.

Majors: Markets generally were positive after the release of the US GDP figures for Q3 which was higher than the 1.3% annualised growth rate in Q2.

This relatively good news countered lacklustre corporate earnings from the US in Q3 and the announcement from Spain that their official unemployment rate is now over 25% as the effects of austerity programs hit the economy.

Markets still wait for the country to officially apply for a bailout although this is a game that has been going for a number of
months now. In the US, the University of Michigan forecast consumer confidence survey for October was only slightly lower than last month (82.6 vs. 83.1).

The New York trading floors for the major financial markets are to be closed on Monday due to the potential damage Hurricane Sandy could cause to many areas on the Atlantic coast.

Economic Calendar
26 OCT AU Nab ASX Business Survey
JN Retail Trade
UK Net Consumer Credit
UK Mortgage Approvals
US Personal Income/spending
US Dallas Fed Manufacturing Activity

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