The Australian dollar lost further momentum against the greenback today after the release of mixed employment data. As a result, the market sentiment was undermined and the Australian dollar lost ground.
Today, Australia employment change report was published. According to the data, the reading increased to 28.4k from the previous figure of 27.7k which was expected to decrease significantly to 15.2k. Despite the considerable improvements in employment change, the unemployment rate rose to 5.2% from 5.1%. Analysts expected a decrease to 5.0%. Additionally, Michele Bullock, assistant financial system governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), spoke today about the upcoming payment system in Australia which would enhance the transactions and customer experiences in the future. Bullock did not touch upon the topic of unemployment rate in her speech.The market participants were slightly discouraged. Thus, the Australian dollar might gain momentum if the US dollar asserts strength as well.
Moreover, recently US Retail Sales report has been published. The reading significantly decreased to -0.2% from the previous figure of 1.7% which was expected to be at 0.2%. Core Retail Sales also tumbled to 0.1% from 1.3%. Economists expected the reading to be near 0.7%. Despite the weak economic data, the US dollar managed to sustain the momentum as the FED remained quite positive about economic growth. Hence, the economy sustained an uptrend and managed to attract USD bulls. Amid good economic signals, the Fed saw no need in the interest rate hike and cut. The US-China trade conflict is expected to have a significant impact on the US economy which may slow down or lose momentum.
Presently, the US dollar is stronger than the Australian dollar despite a moderate slowdown of the greenback after the weak retail sales report. However, the US dollar remains at a high level. Thus, further gains and long-term sustainability are expected.
Now let us look at the technical view. The price is currently quite bearish while forming Bullish Divergence in MACD histogram. The price has already managed to reject certain bearish momentum which is expected to lead the price higher towards 0.70-0.7050 resistance area before the bearish trend continues to dominate again with a target towards 0.6850 support area in the coming days. As the price remains below 0.7050 area with a daily close, the impulsive bearish momentum is expected to continue further.
