The Australian economy gained 10,300 jobs in June, better than a very small gain of 300 people that was expected. However, other figures didn’t look that great.
AUD/USD reacted positively at first and eventually climbed above 0.93, but a deeper look into the data together with a significant correction for the dollar in the European session sent the pair lower.
In June, Australia gained 10.3K, but full time employment actually decreased by 4.4K and the gain is due to a leap of 14.8K in part time employment. The gain of 1.1K jobs reported for May was now revised down to a loss of 0.7K.
The unemployment rate disappointed by rising from 5.5% to 5.7%, worse than a rise to 5.6% that was expected. The participation rate is responsible for the rise in the unemployment rate: it rose to 65.3%, a rise of 0.1%.
All in all, the situation in Australia remains OK, with a low unemployment rate and a high participation rate. The participation rate in the US is 63.5%.
However, there are reasons to worry that the situation will worsen. The employment numbers were joined by comments from the Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, which stated that China’s resources boom is over.
AUD/USD failed to reach the all important line of 0.9344 and stopped at 0.9304. From there, it slid back to down, and is trading at 0.9233, still above the previous highs and above support at 0.9180.
For more, see the AUD/USD forecast.
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