AUD/USD trades sideways around 0.6470 at the time of writing during the European session on Thursday. The pair experienced upward support due to Australia’s upbeat Private Capital Expenditure for the second quarter and China’s moderate economic data released on Thursday, contributing additional support to the AUD/USD pair. As said, the data reported that Australia’s capital expenditure intentions rose to 2.8%, against the expected 1.2% figure and 2.4% prior.
Additionally, China’s August NBS Manufacturing PMI data showed an improvement. The report printed a reading of 49.7 compared to the market consensus of 49.24 figure and 49.3 previously. While Non-Manufacturing PMI fell to 51.0, worse than the expected 51.1 figure. The index reported a reading of 51.5 in July.
US Dollar Index (DXY), which measures the performance of the US Dollar (USD) against the six other major currencies, trades higher around 103.40 at the time of writing. The Greenback experienced downward pressure due to the slew of disappointing US economic data and a pullback in US Treasury yields. The yield on a 10-year US bond extends its losses. Spot price trades at 4.10%, continuing a downward trajectory for the fourth consecutive day.
As mentioned, the US ADP National Employment reported a sharp decline in the number of jobs generated in August. The data showed 177K new jobs added to the economy compared to the 371K jobs that were generated in July. The market was expecting 195K new jobs to be added. Moreover, the preliminary Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reported a figure of 2.1% against the expected reading of 2.4%.
Investors will likely monitor the upcoming data from the US scheduled to be released on Thursday, seeking further cues on the inflation outlook in the country. These datasets include the Core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) - Price Index (MoM), and Initial Jobless Claims (Aug 25). Along with, Average Hourly Earnings (MoM) and Nonfarm Payrolls (Aug) will be released on Friday.