Bernanke Speaks, Gold and the Aussie Could Move

Coming Up This Week

• Canadian GDP
• Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke Speaks

Ready or not it Bernanke time. We and the rest of the financial world have spent the week talking up Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s upcoming speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium. We are finally here, and as mentioned on Monday, it been a fairly choppy trading week as many Forex traders are on the sidelines or trimming their trading activities in prelude of the speech. Traders are hoping to hear from the Fed Chairman an update of whether the Fed is ready to apply further monetary stimulus at its upcoming FOMC Meeting. In the Fed’s previous meeting, they hinted to that fact, but doubts have risen of whether they actually will make changes. If Bernanke fails to give much clarity about the matter, we could see a fall in equities and the dollar rally.
Charts to Watch

Gold: Since breaking above its 1630 resistance (see chart), prices have gold have performed well. But, after topping out around 1675 it is seeing a little downward pressure. Traders should keep their eyes on the 1650 level. If the level holds, it would signify that demand is real and that the current move higher in Gold hasn’t only been speculative driven. Also, with Bernanke speaking today, Forex traders should watch Gold’s reaction to the Chairman’s comments as it could affect the way the metal trades next week.

AUDUSD: As you can see from the chart below, the AUDUSD has been trending lower since falling below 1.0400. But, the downside has been slow in coming as the pair has seen support; initially at 1.0350 and then at 1.0330. Even after yesterday’s fall below 1.0330 support and trading to a low of 1.0275, the pair has snapped back to around 1.0330. As such, although its long term uptrend has been broken, demand continues to creep up in the pair. Therefore, if Bernanke’s comments do reveal an imminent policy move from the Fed, the AUDUSD could be an outperformer on such news.