AUD/USD continues to juggle around 0.6860 despite solid Australian Employment data

• AUD/USD remained sideways despite the Australian economy added 64K jobs in November.
• A significant decline in 12-month Australian inflation expectations will delight the RBA.
• The US Dollar Index has registered a fresh six-month low on less-hawkish Fed policy.

The AUD/USD pair is still in the hangover of the monetary policy announcement by the Federal Reserve (Fed). The Aussie asset has continued to oscillate around 0.6860 despite the Australian Bureau of Statistics having reported a significant improvement in the Employment Change data. The Australian economy has generated additional 64K jobs vs. the expectations of 19K and former additions of 32.2K. While the Unemployment Rate has remained unchanged at 3.4%.

Earlier, the 12-month Australian consumer inflation expectations dropped to 5.2% against the consensus of 5.7% and the former release of 6.0%. A meaningful decline in inflationary pressures is going to delight the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). RBA Governor Philip Lowe has been tightening monetary policy to bring a slowdown in the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

It is worth noting that a slowdown in one-year inflation expectations is not going to compel the RBA to ditch the interest rate expansion further as the road to achieving a 2% inflation rate is far from over. The RBA might continue hiking its Official Cash Rate (OCR) further by 25 basis points (bps).

On the United States front, a shift in the current monetary policy approach by the Federal Reserve (Fed) triggered volatility in the US Dollar. The US Dollar Index (DXY) registered a fresh six-month low at 103.49 after the Fed announced a lower rate hike at 50 bps and ditched the 75 bps rate hike spell. As the fight against inflation will take sufficient time in conquering, the Fed has hiked the interest rate peak at 5.1% to be achieved by the end of CY2023.