The Australian dollar held firm today, September 3rd, as investors adjusted their RBA and Federal Reserve expectations for the year. The AUD/USD pair was trading at 0.7165, a few points below the August high of 0.7207.
RBA rate hike expectations rise
Traders are bracing for interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve and the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) happening as soon as this month.
Polymarket gives the odds of RBA’s rate hike happening in September rose to 67%. These odds jumped after the US and Iran resumed their kinetic activity, which led to higher oil prices.
Australia has also published strong macro numbers this week. An S&P Global report showed that the services PMI came in at 53.2 in August, higher than the expected 52.9. A PMI reading of 50 and above is usually a sign that a sector is growing. The composite PMI came in at 52.7, also higher than the expected 52.50.
Another report released on Wednesday showed that the Australian economy expanded by 2.1% in the second quarter, higher than the expected 1.8%. It grew by 0.4% in Q2 after growing by 0.3% in Q1 on a QoQ basis.
This growth happened even as the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) became the most hawkish central banks this year. It has already delivered three rate hikes this year, with officials leaving the door open for more hikes.
A key concern is that Australia’s inflation has remained at an elevated level in the past few months. This trend will likely continue now that the US and Iran have restarted their kinetic activity, leading to higher energy prices. Brent, the global benchmark, rose to $95.68, while the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose to $91.
Odds of Fed rate hikes rising
The same situation is happening in the US, where odds that the Fed will hike rates this month have jumped to 55% on Polymarket. These odds soared after Kevin Warsh delivered a highly hawkish statement at the Jackson Hole Symposium.
In it, he hinted that the bank was concerned about the state of inflation, which has remained above the 2% target in the past five years.
Focus now shifts to the upcoming US nonfarm payrolls (NFP) report that will provide color on the labor market. Economists expect the data to show that the economy created over 80k jobs in August this year.
AUD/USD technical analysis
AUDUSD chart | Source: TradingView
The daily chart shows that the AUD/USD pair may be on the verge of a bearish reversal in the coming days. For one, it has formed a rising wedge pattern whose two lines are about to converge.
Also, the two lines of the Percentage Price Oscillator (PPO) have made a bearish crossover, while the Relative Strength Index is pointing downwards.
Therefore, the most likely scenario is where the AUD/USD pair falls, potentially to the key support of 0.700.
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