- AUD/USD rose to a fresh five-day high on Thursday.
- US Dollar Index stays in the negative territory ahead of Powell’s speech.
- Initial Jobless Claims in US climbed to 965,000 last week.
After dropping below 0.7750 in the early American session, the AUD/USD pair turned north supported by the broad selling pressure surrounding the greenback. As of writing, the pair was up 0.65% on a daily basis at 0.7782.
DXY looks to close in the red
The data published by the US Department of Labor on Thursday that the weekly Initial Jobless Claims in the US rose to 965,000 from 784,000. The initial market reaction allowed the US Dollar Index (DXY) to climb above 90.50. However, the USD failed to preserve its strength with major equity indexes in the US opening in the positive territory and the DXY was last seen posting small daily losses at 90.24.
FOMC Chairman Jerome Powell will speak at an online event at 1730 GMT. Investors will be looking for fresh clues regarding possible adjustments to the duration and the amount of asset purchases. A dovish policy outlook could cause the USD to continue to lose strength and lift AUD/USD higher toward 0.7800.
On the other hand, President-elect Joe Biden is expected to unveil the coronavirus relief plan in the early trading hours of the Asian session. Heightened expectations for ramped up government spending has been lifting US Treasury bond yields and a similar reaction could provide a boost to the buck and force AUD/USD to start erasing its gains.
Technical levels to watch for
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