The US Federal Reserve Economic Symposium helped the Australian dollar to post fresh highs against the US dollar. The Reserve Bank of Australia’s upcoming interest rate decision might not upend the current bullishness in the AUD/USD pair as the central bank might retain its wait-and-see approach regarding its monetary policy.
AUD/USD posted further higher-highs and higher-lows, continuing the pattern from the previous week to hit 0.7381 – a fresh monthly high, as the FOMC revealed its intention to achieve inflation that averages two Percent overtime.
The Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said that the FOMC would continue relying on its current emergency tools to support the economy. The new statement on Longer-Run Goals and Monetary Policy Strategy shows the continued commitment to achieving the goals in an economic scenario where the interest rates are already low.
There was no sign from the Fed that there was any rush to change the path of monetary policy as the committee had voted to extend the temporary US Dollar liquidity swap lines through March 31. Also, the Fed seems to be on track to retain the current policy on its September 16 meeting. The central bank wants to increase its Treasury securities and agency residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities holdings at least at the current pace.
On the other hand, the Reserve Bank of Australia might indicate more bullishness regarding the economy and hence less dovish on the monetary policy as: “the bank’s policy package was continuing to work broadly as expected.” Such an outlook would prompt Governor Philip Lowe to continue to rule out additional stimulus or a negative interest rate policy.
