Australian dollar stays in tight range against the greenback after RBA said in the October meeting minutes that rates will stay low. It noted that "given the information available, the board's judgement was that the current stance of monetary policy continued to be appropriate for fostering sustainable growth in demand and inflation outcomes consistent with the target over the period ahead." Meanwhile, RBA said the accommodative monetary policy would support demand and boost growth, and "to date, this had been most apparent in the housing market " and, "continued strength in building approvals and other indicators pointed to further growth in coming quarters". RBA also added that labor market conditions "appeared to have stabilized somewhat over the course of 2014 to date". Regarding the exchange rate, it said Aussie "remained high by historical standards" and "was offering less assistance than would normally be expected in achieving balanced growth." Technically, AUD/USD is still bounded in consolidation from 0.8642 short term bottom and bias stays neutral. An eventual downside breakout is still expected.
In China, Q3 GDP grew 7.2% yoy, slowed from prior quarter's 7.5% yoy but beat expectation of 7.2% yoy. While that's the lowest level since the first quarter of 2009, some economists noted the result was not bad enough to push China to launch a broad based stimulus program. Also released from China, fixed assets investments slowed to 16.1% yoy in September versus expectation of 16.3% yoy. Retail sales slowed to 11.6% yoy versus expectation of 11.7%. Nonetheless, industrial production growth rose to 8.0% yoy versus expectation of 7.5% yoy. Markets showed little reaction to the data. Nikkei pared back some of yesterday's gain is is trying to defend 15000 handle at the time of writing.
Looking ahead, Swiss trade balance is expected to show CHF 2.43b surplus in September. UK public sector net borrowing is expected to drop to GBP 9.3b in September. US existing homes sales is expected to rise to 5.10m annualized rate in September.