AUD/USD refreshes session tops and retreats, keeps the red below mid-0.6800s

• Renewed US-China trade uncertainty continues to weigh on the Aussie.
• A goodish pickup in the USD demand further added to the selling bias.
• Tuesday’s key focus will be on Fedspeak, Trump’s scheduled speech.

The AUD/USD pair reversed an early dip to over two-week lows and jumped to fresh session tops, around the 0.6855-60 region in the last hour, albeit quickly retreated few pips thereafter.
 
The pair extended its recent pullback from the 0.6930 region and lost some additional ground during the Asian session on Tuesday. The US President Donald Trump’s comments over the weekend, saying that there was no agreement yet on rollback of existing tariffs, turned out to be one of the key factors exerting some downward pressure on the China-proxy Australian Dollar.

Focus remains on trade developments

The pair touched an intraday low level of 0.6832 and was further pressurized by a modest pickup in the US Dollar demand, this time backed by a fresh leg of an uptick in the US Treasury bond yields. However, a turnaround in the global risk sentiment extended some support to perceived riskier currencies, like the Aussie, and helped limit any deeper losses, at least for now.
 
Meanwhile, the attempted recovery lacked any strong follow-through, rather quickly ran out of the steam as investors seemed reluctant to place any fresh bets ahead of Trump’s appearance at the New York Economic Club later during the US trading session on Tuesday. In the meantime, a scheduled speech by the Fed Governor Richard Clarida might produce some meaningful trading opportunities.

Technical levels to watch