- AUD/USD rises to 0.6632 as US Q1 GDP growth slows to 1.3%, below expectations.
- US Initial Jobless Claims increase slightly to 219K; Pending Home Sales plunge in April.
- Traders focus on upcoming Australian Housing Credit data and China’s NBS PMIs, alongside US PCE Price Index release.
The Australian Dollar recovered against the US Dollar on Thursday trading, as US Q1 2024 GDP data was softer than expected, sparking a fall in US Treasury yields and the US Dollar. At the time of writing, the AUD/USD trades at 0.6632, virtually unchanged, following gains of 0.35%.
AUD/USD gains 0.35% on weaker US data and Fedspekaing
The economy in the United States posted weaker-than-expected figures. The Gross Domestic Product for the first quarter in the second estimate expanded by just 1.3%, lower than the 1.6% expected, and trailed last year's fourth quarter's 3.4% increase.
At the same time, Initial Jobless Claims for the last week were revealed, portraying an increase of 219K, slightly above the consensus estimate of 218K and higher than the previous week's reading of 216K.
Other data showed that Pending Home Sales for April tumbled from 3.6% to -7.7% MoM and, on an annual basis, plunged -7.4% from a 0.1% expansion.
Elsewhere, Fed officials crossed the wires. New York Fed President John Williams commented that monetary policy is well-positioned, that inflation is too high, and that he doesn’t feel urgency to slash interest rates. He added that inflation would reach the Fed’s 2% goal in early 2026.
Recently, Chicago’s Fed President Austan Goolsbee added that prices could still fall without rising unemployment.
What’s ahead for AUD/USD traders?
The economic schedule will feature Housing Credit data for April on the Australian front. Alongside that, AUD/USD traders would be eying China’s NBS Manufacturing and Non-Manufacturing PMIs, which are expected to expand by 50.5 and 51.5, respectively.
On the US front, traders are anticipating the release of April’s Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index, which is the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation.
