The major theme of this week was speeches of various Federal Reserve members and, most importantly, Chairman Ben Bernanke. Comments of policy makers did not help to understand when the central bank is going to end quantitative easing. The confusion resulted in a mixed performance of the US dollar.

The Australian dollar slumped today, reaching the lowest level in a year against the US dollar, as China’s manufacturing contracted this month and the US Federal Reserve hinted that quantitative easing may be reduced.

The Australian dollar fell against its US peer today after the Reserve Bank of Australia released the minutes of its last policy meeting. The drop was small, however, and the currency gained against the Japanese yen at the same time.

This week was relatively quiet in terms of news, though some important macroeconomic reports were released. Meanwhile, the US dollar was rising against other most-traded currencies and the Dollar Index surged to the highest level in almost three years.

The Australian dollar was soft today after the government forecast that economic growth will slow in the next financial year, adding reasons for the central bank to cut interest rates further.

The Australian dollar remained depressed at the start of this week as business confidence worsened, adding to speculations that the central bank will cut interest rates yet again.

This was definitely not good for the Australian dollar as the nation’s central bank unexpectedly reduced its interest rates and hinted that more rate cuts are possible.

The Australian dollar dropped today, touching the lowest level since June versus its US counterpart, as the Reserve Bank of Australia lowered its inflation outlook, reigniting talks about possible interest rate cut.

New Zealand was not the only country to add jobs as Australia also pleasantly surprised Forex traders with improving employment and an unexpected drop of the unemployment rate.

The Australian dollar slumped today as the Reserve Bank of Australia surprised Forex market participants by cutting its interest rates and suggesting that further rate cuts are possible.