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  • Australian Dollar (AUD) jumps into positive territory after US data misses forecast
  • US jobless claims +884,000 vs 846,000 exp.
  • Melbourne lockdown to be extended

The Australian Dollar US Dollar (AUD/USD) exchange rate is advancing for a second straight session on Thursday. The pair settled just shy of 1% higher in the previous session, at US$0.7282. At 13:15 UTC, AUD/USD trades +0.2% at US$0.73, at the high of the day.

The US Dollar is under pressure after US jobless claims remained unchanged at 884,000. Analysts had been expecting claims to fall to 846,000. Last week the number of people filing for unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level since the covid crisis started.

Whilst today’s figure is well down from the 6.8 million claims recorded in March, redundancies are still persistent across sectors and industries. The figures come after yesterday’s JOLTS data showed that job vacancies rose to 6.6 million in July but the pace of hiring fell.

Recent US data has indicted that as the US economy reopens and Americans are starting spending again and there are signs of economic recovery. However, the recovery is slow and the scars are deep as the economy attempt to recover from a -31.7% contraction in the second quarter.

There is no more US economic data due today. Investors will look ahead to US inflation figures due tomorrow.

The Australian Dollar is benefiting from the weaker US counterpart. Domestic new from Australia was less supportive of the Aussie Dollar, keeping the currency depressed for most of the session.

Lockdown restrictions in Melbourne, Australia’s second largest city were extended, a move which could hamper Australia’s economic recovery. The new proposed plan out of lockdown would see Melbourne free of restrictions in late November, if no new infections are recorded in the two weeks ahead of the 23rd November date.

The economic impact of the lockdown extension could be acute, especially as Victoria state accounts for approximately 25% of the national economy.