AUD/USD probes sellers around yearly low near 0.6680 on RBA’s Lowe, China/US macro eyed

• AUD/USD bounces off two-month low as RBA’s Lowe defends interest rate hike.
• Early-day retreat in yields also underpins corrective bounce from multi-day low.
• Fears of Fed’s aggression join China-linked woes to keep bears hopeful.

AUD/USD licks its wounds around the yearly low near 0.6680 as Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor justifies the latest rate hikes during the Testimony in front of the Aussie parliament. Also challenging the pair bears is the retreat in the US Treasury yields amid the day-start consolidation moves on early Friday.

“Now that inflation is as high as it is, we need to make sure that inflation returns to target in a reasonable time,” said RBA’s Lowe in the latest testimony. The policymaker also mentioned that Australia in much better position than Fed because wages still contained.

Elsewhere, the US 10-year Treasury yields dropped 1.2 basis points to 3.447% after rising 1.38% the previous day.

Even so, the S&P 500 Futures drop 0.65% intraday by the press time and portrays the risk-off mood, which in turn keeps AUD/USD bears hopeful. Also favoring the Aussie pair sellers are the hawkish Fed bets. That said, the market prices in the Fed’s 0.75% and 1.0% rate hikes in the next week’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the CME’s FedWatch Tool.

It’s worth noting that fears of China’s slowdown and the European energy crisis join firmer US data to escalate the market’s rush towards the US dollar and weigh on the risk barometer AUD/USD.

Moving on, China’s monthly data dump including the Industrial Production, Retail Sales and housing numbers for August could offer immediate directions. Following that, preliminary readings of the Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index (CSI) will be crucial for nearby directions.

Technical analysis

AUD/USD recovery remains elusive unless crossing the 50-DMA level around 0.6890.