AUD/USD flubs 0.74 as markets buy up the Greenback on hawkish Fed chair Powell

• Aussie sputters as the USD bounces higher on a hawkish Fed chairman Powell.
• Wednesday is a thinned-out showing for the Asia session, and traders will be turning their eyes towards Powell’s second Senate showing for the week.

The AUD/USD is back below 0.74, currently testing near-term support at 0.7385 after a bullish showing on Tuesday for the US Dollar.

The latest showing from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) showed the central bank leaning  towards an upwards interest rate hike, but only if key economic indicators for the Australian economy continue to improve, and rising trade tensions are keeping the RBA in a dovish stance, and markets are continuing to price in the odds of a rate hike from the Assie central bank not happening until far into the future.

Meanwhile, the US Fed’s Jerome Powell struck a decidedly hawkish tone, talking up the US economy’s growth potential, while also downplaying inherent risks from trade frictions with China, sending the US Dollar higher and forcing down Gold prices, dragging the Aussie lower through Tuesday’s action.  

Early Wednesday will be seeing the Westpac Leading Index for June at 00:30 GMT, but the impact on the AUD is expected to be limited from the low-tier indicator, which last printed at -0.2%. Later on in the upcoming US session, Fed chairman Jerome Powell will undergo day two of his Senate testimony on the Semiannual Monetary Policy Report before the House Financial Services Committee, and traders will be looking for any key hints dropped about the US Fed’s forward guidance.

AUD/USD levels to watch

The Aussie has once again softened against the Greenback as metals prices get forced down by an optimistic market, and as FXStreet’s own Valeria Bednarik noted, “the pair is technically neutral-to-bearish as in the 4 hours chart, it is currently below the 20 and 100 SMA, both directionless and in a tight 10 pips range, while technical indicators head entered negative territory, maintaining their downward slopes but coming from a consolidative stage around their midline. The downward momentum will likely accelerate on a break below 0.7370, the immediate support.”

Support levels: 0.7370 0.7335 0.7310  

Resistance levels: 0.7410 0.7450 0.7490