Aussie falls as China PMI weakens, FOMC minutes loom

• AUD/USD slips after a four-day rally
• China’s Services PMI eases in June
• Australia’s retail sales jump 0.7% in May
• FOMC minutes will be released later on Wednesday

The Australian dollar is in negative territory on Wednesday, after a four-day rally that saw the Aussie climb 100 pips. In the North American session, the Australian dollar is trading at 0.6663, down 0.42%.

China’s Services PMI eases but indicates expansion

China is Australia’s largest trading partner, making the Aussie sensitive to Chinese data. China released the Caixin Services PMI on Wednesday, and the June report showed a deceleration to 53.9, down from 57.1 in May. This still points to expansion in business activity, but the reading was the lowest in five months, which is cause for concern as China experiences a bump recovery. The soft reading sent the Australian dollar considerably lower on Wednesday.

Australian retail sales jumps 0.7%

If Australia is close to a recession, it looks like someone forgot to tell the consumer, who opened up the purse strings in May. Australia’s retail sales impressed with a 0.7% gain in May, unrevised from the flash estimate. This follows a flat reading in April and matched the consensus. This was the strongest showing since January.

The Reserve Bank of Australia may have preferred a weaker retail sales release, as it needs the economy to continue to slow in order to push inflation lower. The RBA would love to continue pausing rate hikes and bring some relief to households, but inflation remains far too high – the 5.6% reading in May was still almost three times above the 2% target.

The RBA announced a pause at the rate meeting this week but warned that inflation risks were tilted upwards and further rate hikes might be required. The central bank delivered a “hawkish pause”, signalling that the pause did not indicate an end to the current rate-hike campaign. Money markets have priced in a 45% chance of a rate hike in August, as investors are having a tough time figuring out the RBA’s rate path, which has wavered between hikes and pauses this year.

All eyes are on the FOMC minutes of the June meeting, when the Fed paused rates after 10 straight hikes, leaving the benchmark cash rate in a range of 5.00%-5.25%. The markets are widely expecting the Fed to hike at the July meeting but haven’t bought into Fed Chair Powell’s stance that another hike is coming in the fall. If the minutes are hawkish, the market could fall in line with Powell which would likely give the US dollar a boost.

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AUD/USD Technical

• AUD/USD tested 0.6659 earlier on Wednesday. Below, there is support at 0.6597
• 0.6722 and 0.6784 are providing support

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