AUD/USD sellers attack 0.7100 on trade/political fears, upbeat US Treasury yields

• AUD/USD takes offers to refresh intraday low, reverses week-start recovery moves.
• Fears of US trade sanctions on China, Russia-Ukraine tussles join fresh two-year high of US T-bond yields to favor bears.
• US trade numbers, risk catalysts to offer intermediate halts, US CPI is the key.

AUD/USD refreshes intraday low around 0.7100, down 0.15% intraday as risk-off mood gains momentum heading into Tuesday’s European session.

The firmer US Treasury yields gain major attention while seeking clues for the Aussie pair’s latest weakness. That said, the US 10-year Treasury yields rose around three basis points (bps) to refresh the two-year high near 1.95% whereas the five-year counterpart added four bps to renew the 18-month peak of 1.8050% at the latest.

Also weighing on the AUD/USD prices could be grim concerns over the US-China trade relations, due to Australia’s close trading relations with Beijing. While portraying the trade pessimism in China, Reuters said, “China's blue-chip index slumped to a 19-month low on Tuesday, with new-energy vehicle stocks leading the losses, as investors fretted over the prospect of the U.S. government adding more Chinese entities to the export control list.”

Elsewhere, fears of Russia-Ukraine war battles US-Japan trade optimism, as well as covid fears in Hong Kong and Tokyo, to confuse market players and underpin US dollar demand amid broad hawkish concerns for the Fed’s March rate hike.

Against this backdrop, US stock future print mild losses around 4,470 at the latest while stocks in the Asia-Pacific region drift lower.

Looking forward, risk catalysts will join the US Goods and Services Trade Balance for December, expected $-83B versus $-80.2B, to direct intraday moves.

Technical analysis

Failures to cross the 50-DMA level surrounding 0.7165 direct AUD/USD sellers towards a fortnight-old support line near 0.7080.