Breaking: Australia Feb Unemployment Rate +5.1 pct, s/adj (Reuters poll: +5.3)

The COVID-19 and emergency response form the Reserve Bank of Australia has stripped away the importance, or rather, the sense of urgency surrounding this data, but for what it is worth at this stag in the game,here is the outcome of February’s report where a key focus has been on the Unemployment Rate. 

Australia Jobs data

Australia Feb Employment +26.7k s/adj (Reuters poll: +10.0k).
Australia Feb Unemployment rate +5.1 pct, s/adj (Reuters poll: +5.3).
Australia Feb Full Time Employment +6.7k s/adj.
Australia Feb Participation Rate +66.0 pct, s/adj (Reuters poll: +66.1 pct).

AUD/USD reaction

Muted reaction. AUD/USD hit a multi-year lows overnight with the US dollar ripping to the 101 handle in the DXY overnight, more onthat here: AUD/USD: Pressured near multi-year low, under 0.5800, ahead of Aussie jobs report, RBA

Markets await the RBA’s emergency rate decision and details of QE where it is holding an emergency meeting. The RBA will release a statement after the meeting at 2:30pm AEDT where the RBA is expected to cut the interest rates to 0.25 per cent, which will be the lowest in Australia’s history. After this, the interest rates can’t go lower — the RBA has already said 0.25 per cent is its lower bound. The RBA governor Philip Lowe will release details of the RBA’s asset purchase program (i.e. quantitative easing) that will involve purchasing Australian Government bonds. The bond-buying program will inject Australia’s financial system with additional cash to ensure it keeps functioning smoothly under the unprecedented stresses of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Description of the Unemployment Rate

The Unemployment Rate release by the Australian Bureau of Statistics is the number of unemployed workers divided by the total civilian labor force. If the rate hikes, indicates a lack of expansion within the Australian labor market. As a result, a rise leads to weaken the Australian economy. A decrease of the figure is seen as positive (or bullish) for the AUD, while an increase is seen as negative (or bearish).