In the early Asian session, the AUDUSD gains some ground.
The AUDUSD pair is up slightly in the Asian session on Monday. The pair has retreated from near 0.6900 and is now trading around 0.6825, down 0.02% on the day. The latest meeting of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will be issued on Tuesday, followed by employment statistics on Thursday.
The Australian central bank opted to maintain the Official Cash Rate (OCR) at 4.10% during its July policy meeting. According to June statistics from the nation’s Bureau of Statistics, the country’s economy grew at the weakest rate in 1-1/2 years in the most recent quarter, with signs of additional decline ahead.
The Australian Treasurer stated that the country’s unemployment rate will climb from a nearly 48-year low.
Despite sluggish global economy and increased interest rates, Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers predicted on Sunday that the country’s unemployment rate would climb from near a 48-year low.
Michele Bullock will be the first woman to manage the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), succeeding Philip Lowe. In the next months, the RBA will also name a new Deputy Governor.
The preliminary reading of the University of Michigan’s (UoM) Consumer Confidence Index jumped to 72.6 from 64.4 in June, above the market’s forecast of 65.5. Additionally, Consumer prices in the United States grew by 3.0% year on year, down from 4.0% earlier, while the Producer Price Index (PPI) increased by 0.1%, down from 0.9% previously. Following an expected interest rate rise in the July 26 meeting, markets expect the Federal Reserve (Fed) to be less aggressive in tightening monetary policy.
On the other hand, fears about a Chinese economic downturn remain prominent. According to the most recent National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) figures, the Chinese Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased at a 6.3% annual rate, which was lower than predicted at 7.3% and 4.5% previously. At the same time, Industrial Production YoY increased by 4.4% from 3.5% the previous year, above the consensus of 2.7%.
Investors are looking forward to the minutes of the Australian monetary policy meeting.
Following that, the major item to monitor will be the Australian monetary policy. Meeting minutes and employment statistics will be available later this week. Furthermore, the US Retail Sales and Chinese economic statistics may have a big influence on the AUDUSD movement in the short future.
