When is the Australian employment report and how could it affect AUD/USD?

March month employment statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, up for publishing at 01:30 GMT on Thursday, will be the immediate catalyst for the AUD/USD pair traders.

Market consensus suggests that the headline Unemployment Rate may rise to 3.6% on a seasonally adjusted basis versus the 3.5% prior whereas Employment Change could ease by 20.0K versus the previous addition of 64.6K. Further, the Participation Rate is expected to remain unchanged at 66.6% during the stated month.

It’s worth noting that Australia Consumer Inflation Expectations for April, scheduled for 01:00 AM GMT also become an important event to watch for better predict the immediate AUD/USD moves. That said, the inflation precursor is expected to rise to 5.3% for April versus 5.0%.

Considering the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) pause to rate hike trajectory and the recent dovish comments from RBA Assistant Governor (Financial System) Michele Bullock, today’s Aussie inflation expectations and employment numbers appear more important for the AUD/USD pair.

Ahead of the event, FXStreet’s Matias Salord mentioned,

How could the data affect AUD/USD?

AUD/USD takes offers to renew intraday low around 0.6690 as it snaps a two-day uptrend while preparing for the key Australia data during early Thursday. In doing so, the Aussie pair also bears the burden of the risk-off mood and dovish concerns about the RBA.

That said, the pre-data anxiety probes AUD/USD bulls amid hopes of downbeat Aussie data. However, the risk barometer pair is likely to remain firmer unless the data marks major disappointment. The reason could be linked to the broad US Dollar weakness amid Fed policy pivot talks. Hence, an upbeat Aussie report may help the quote to extend its two-day winning streak but softer data may not do much harm to the prices unless the US Dollar recovers.

Technically, a one-month-old horizontal support zone restricts immediate AUD/USD downside near 0.6625-20. The upside momentum, however, needs a successful break of the one-month-old previous support line, around 0.6700 by the press time.

Key Notes

AUD/USD Price Analysis: Bears eye a break of key support structures

Australian Employment Preview: Could another positive report help the Aussie? 

AUD/USD Forecast: Bullish but needs to break 0.6700, attention turns to Australian jobs

About the Employment Change

The Employment Change released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics is a measure of the change in the number of employed people in Australia. Generally speaking, a rise in this indicator has positive implications for consumer spending which stimulates economic growth. Therefore, a high reading is seen as positive (or bullish) for the AUD, while a low reading is seen as negative (or bearish).

About the Unemployment Rate

The Unemployment Rate released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics is the number of unemployed workers divided by the total civilian labor force. If the rate hikes, indicates a lack of expansion within the Australian labor market. As a result, a rise leads to weaken the Australian economy. A decrease of the figure is seen as positive (or bullish) for the AUD, while an increase is seen as negative (or bearish).