- US unemployment fell by more than expected in August
- Job creation was 1.37 million in US in August vs 1.4 million expected
- Australian Dollar declined despite retail sales jumping 3.2% mom
- Chinese trade data will be in focus next week
The Australian Dollar US Dollar (AUD/USD) exchange rate is trending southwards for the fourth straight session. The pair settled -0.9% lower on Thursday at US$0.7272. At 14:30 UTC, AUD/USD trades -0.5% at US$0.7232. The pair is down 1.8% across the week, after 2.8% gains the week before.
The US Dollar is rallying following upbeat US non farm payroll data. The number of jobs added in the US in August was 1.37 million, roughly inline with the 1.4 million forecast and down slightly from 1.76 million reported in July.
However, the unemployment rate fell significantly more than expected to 8.4%, well down from 10.2% in July and smashing forecasts of 9.8%. The Federal Reserve expects unemployment to be around 9% at the end of the year. At 8.4% the rate is below that level now. However, there are still lots of big companies that are preparing for large scale layoff’s in the coming months, so the US is by no means out of the woods yet.
The upbeat data is boosting demand for the US Dollar across the board, as optimism grows over the health of the US economic recovery.
The Australian Dollar is on the back foot versus its US counterpart despite Australian retail sales remaining solid. Retail sales jumped 3.2% month on month in July, following a 2.7% increase in June. The data was welcomed, particularly after the country officially slid into recession for the first time in 30 years in the second quarter.
However, with unemployment set to rise over the coming months and wages at record lows, consumer spending could weaken significantly going forwards.
Looking ahead the Aussie Dollar could come under further pressure if China’s trade data fails to impress. Another decline in monthly imports could unnerve investors raiding concerns that the world’s second largest economy is struggling to recover from the covid crisis.
