AUD/USD slides back to 0.7360s after testing 0.7400 despite hawkish RBA minutes amid buoyant buck

• AUD/USD has fallen back into the 0.7360s after probing 0.7400 earlier in the morning.
• The Aussie got some short-lived support from hawkish RBA minutes.
• But the pair fell again as the buck picked up amid further upside in US yields on hawkish Fed bets.

Having failed an earlier attempt to push back to the north of the 0.7400 during early European trade, AUD/USD is back to trading in the 0.7360s, leaving it now just about 0.2% higher on the day. That means the pair has eroded the majority of its post-hawkish RBA minutes' gains. For reference, the minutes revealed that the central bank expects inflation to pick up and that recent developments have brought forward the likely timing of the first-rate hike.

Traders cited resilience in the US dollar in wake of further upside in US yields following hawkish commentary from Fed arch-hawk James Bullard on Monday, who hinted he was open to a 75 bps rate hike at upcoming meetings, as weighing on AUD/USD as it attempted to rally back above 0.7400. Looking ahead, the main event of the week for the pair will be Thursday’s speech at this week's IMF/World Bank meetings by Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

Markets expect Powell to solidify expectation for a 50 bps rate hike from the Fed at the start of next month and will likely be highly sensitive to his rhetoric on the economic outlook and outlook for policy. Tier two US data in the form of housing reports, weekly jobless claims, regional manufacturing surveys and flash PMIs (which are also scheduled for release in Australia) will play second fiddle.

AUD/USD bears are currently eyeing a potential break below the 50-Day Moving Average just below 0.7350, which continues to offer support. This could open the door to a bearish push towards the 200-DMA just under the 0.7300 mark.