AUD/USD faces barricades above 0.6630 as focus shifts to RBA monetary policy

• AUD/USD has failed to sustain above 0.6630 as investors are shifting their focus toward the RBA policy.
• S&P500 settled Thursday’s session with bumper gains as upbeat performance from US tech stocks outweighed fears of slowdown.
• US businesses unwind their inventories and offset solid consumer spending amid dismal economic outlook.

The AUD/USD pair has sensed mild selling pressure after failing to sustain above the crucial resistance of 0.6630 in the early Asian session. The Aussie asset is expected to remain on the tenterhooks as investors are shifting their focus toward the interest rate decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), which is scheduled for Tuesday.

S&P500 settled Thursday’s session with bumper gains as upbeat quarterly earnings performance from United States technology stocks outweighed fears of economic slowdown. After solid performances from Google, Microsoft, and Meta Platforms, Amazon reported higher-than-expected earnings with strong revenue guidance, which indicates that consumer spending would remain upbeat ahead. Overall cheerful market mood has strengthened the appeal for risk-sensitive assets.

The US Dollar Index (DXY) has corrected to near 101.48 after an upside move to near 101.80 posts the release of downbeat United States Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data. Scrutiny of the US GDP (Q1) report showed that businesses unwind their inventories and offset solid consumer spending amid a dismal economic outlook as fears of a recession are deepening due to higher interest rates from the Federal Reserve (Fed).

Meanwhile, weekly jobless claims dropped to 230K from the consensus of 248K for the week ending April 21, which indicates that the labor market conditions are still solid.

On the Australian Dollar front, consistently softening Australian inflation would allow the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to keep the interest rate policy unchanged on Tuesday. RBA Governor Philip Lowe would keep rates steady at 3.60%.