AUD/USD recovers to 0.6800 as US Pres. Trump hints at deal with China

• US President Trump tells Fox News deal with China is “potentially very close.”
• US Dollar Index extends sideways grind near 98 handle.
• Coming up: Services and Manufacturing PMI and UoM Consumer Confidence data from US.

The AUD/USD pair gained traction in the last hour and erased its losses to turn positive on the day near the 0.6800 mark as, once again, trade headlines impacted the pair’s action. As of writing, the pair was up 0.18% on a daily basis at 0.6796.

During an interview with Fox News on Friday, United States (US) President Donald Trump said that the trade deal with China was “potentially very close,” to revive hopes of sides concluding the phase one of the deal to avoid the December tariff hike and helped trade-sensitive antipodeans find demand.

Commenting on the markets’ recent reaction to headlines surrounding the US-China trade dispute, “Six weeks have passed since the ‘phase-one’ deal was agreed in principle with no deal in place,” noted Westpac analysts.  “Markets are showing some signs of tiring of the steady drip feed of upbeat comments from US officials and no signs of a final agreement looking likely.”

Eyes on US data

Later in the American session, investors will be watching for signs of weakness in the US manufacturing sector in the IHS Markit’s preliminary Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) report for November. The Services PMI data and the University of Michigan’s Consumer Confidence Survey will be featured in the economic docket as well.  

Technical levels to watch for