AUD/USD has started the trading week with strong gains. The Aussie is trading at 0.6447, up 0.67%.
Is the nasty slide over? The Australian dollar is coming off a third straight losing week. September was a disaster, as AUD/USD plummeted 6.4%. The escalation in the war in Ukraine, which has sapped risk sentiment, and the aggressive Federal Reserve have dampened market appetite for the risk-related Australian dollar.
RBA likely to hike by 50bp
The RBA meets on Tuesday, and Bank members are widely expected to deliver a fifth consecutive hike of 50 basis points, which would take the benchmark rate to 2.85%. After that, the RBA may lower gears to 25bp moves. Governor Lowe has signaled that he would like to shift to 25bp hikes at some point, which would help guide the economy to a soft landing and avoid choking off economic growth. However, there is no indication that inflation has peaked, and soaring inflation was the primary reason for the RBA’s sharp rate-hike cycle. The next inflation report will be released in late October, with the RBA November meeting just one week later. It’s a safe bet that the size of the rate hike in November will depend to a large extent on that inflation report.
In the US, the Fed may make a U-turn in policy before the end of the year, depending on the strength of the economy. The data can be conflicting, which was the case on Friday. The Fed’s preferred inflation indicator, the Core PCE Index, rose 4.9% in August, up from 4.7% in July and above the consensus of 4.7%. At the same time, the University of Michigan sentiment index showed that inflation expectations for 5-10 years ticked lower to 2.8%, down from 2.7%. In the meantime, the Fed’s hawkish stance has fuelled the US dollar’s upswing.
AUD/USD Technical
- AUD/USD has support at 0.6450 and 0.6363
- There is resistance at 0.6598 and 0.6685
