AUD/USD jumps above 0.6400 as antipodeans outperform on US-China tariff pause
- AUD/USD gains sharply above 0.6400 as US-China trade truce lifts demand of antipodeans.
- The US and China have agreed to lower tariffs by 115% for 90 days.
- Investors await the US CPI and Australian employment data for April.
The AUD/USD pair climbs to near 0.6410 during European trading hours on Tuesday. The Aussie pair strengthens on the outperformance of antipodeans after the United States (US) and China averted the trade war after agreeing to lower import duties following a two-day meeting in Switzerland.
Australian Dollar PRICE Today
The table below shows the percentage change of Australian Dollar (AUD) against listed major currencies today. Australian Dollar was the strongest against the Canadian Dollar.
| USD | EUR | GBP | JPY | CAD | AUD | NZD | CHF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USD | -0.18% | -0.23% | -0.27% | 0.11% | -0.62% | -0.67% | -0.50% | |
| EUR | 0.18% | -0.05% | -0.08% | 0.27% | -0.44% | -0.45% | -0.29% | |
| GBP | 0.23% | 0.05% | -0.02% | 0.33% | -0.39% | -0.44% | -0.25% | |
| JPY | 0.27% | 0.08% | 0.02% | 0.37% | -0.36% | -0.43% | -0.19% | |
| CAD | -0.11% | -0.27% | -0.33% | -0.37% | -0.81% | -0.77% | -0.60% | |
| AUD | 0.62% | 0.44% | 0.39% | 0.36% | 0.81% | -0.04% | 0.15% | |
| NZD | 0.67% | 0.45% | 0.44% | 0.43% | 0.77% | 0.04% | 0.18% | |
| CHF | 0.50% | 0.29% | 0.25% | 0.19% | 0.60% | -0.15% | -0.18% |
The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the Australian Dollar from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the US Dollar, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent AUD (base)/USD (quote).
In a scheduled briefing on Monday, the comments from US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent indicated that Washington and Beijing have reduced tariffs by 115% to 10% and 30%, respectively, for 90 days. The news resulted in a sharp increase in the US Dollar and lifted antipodeans, given their sensitivity to the Chinese economy as its close trading partners, on hopes that the consequences of the tariff war will be lower than what had been anticipated.
US Treasury Bessent also assured that the economy is not aiming for generalized decoupling between the two largest economies in the world, a move that downplays fears of a resurgence in the US-China trade war.
Domestically, the Australian Dollar (AUD) will be influenced by the labor market data for April, which will be released on Tuesday. The data is expected to show that the economy added 20K fresh workers, and the Unemployment Rate remained steady at 4.1%.
Meanwhile, the US Dollar (USD) clings to Monday’s gains ahead of the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for April, which will be published at 12:30 GMT. US headline and core CPI are expected to have risen at a steady pace of 2.4% and 2.8%, respectively, year-on-year. On month, both factors are estimated to have grown by 0.3%.
US Dollar FAQs
The US Dollar (USD) is the official currency of the United States of America, and the ‘de facto’ currency of a significant number of other countries where it is found in circulation alongside local notes. It is the most heavily traded currency in the world, accounting for over 88% of all global foreign exchange turnover, or an average of $6.6 trillion in transactions per day, according to data from 2022. Following the second world war, the USD took over from the British Pound as the world’s reserve currency. For most of its history, the US Dollar was backed by Gold, until the Bretton Woods Agreement in 1971 when the Gold Standard went away.
The most important single factor impacting on the value of the US Dollar is monetary policy, which is shaped by the Federal Reserve (Fed). The Fed has two mandates: to achieve price stability (control inflation) and foster full employment. Its primary tool to achieve these two goals is by adjusting interest rates. When prices are rising too quickly and inflation is above the Fed’s 2% target, the Fed will raise rates, which helps the USD value. When inflation falls below 2% or the Unemployment Rate is too high, the Fed may lower interest rates, which weighs on the Greenback.
In extreme situations, the Federal Reserve can also print more Dollars and enact quantitative easing (QE). QE is the process by which the Fed substantially increases the flow of credit in a stuck financial system. It is a non-standard policy measure used when credit has dried up because banks will not lend to each other (out of the fear of counterparty default). It is a last resort when simply lowering interest rates is unlikely to achieve the necessary result. It was the Fed’s weapon of choice to combat the credit crunch that occurred during the Great Financial Crisis in 2008. It involves the Fed printing more Dollars and using them to buy US government bonds predominantly from financial institutions. QE usually leads to a weaker US Dollar.
Quantitative tightening (QT) is the reverse process whereby the Federal Reserve stops buying bonds from financial institutions and does not reinvest the principal from the bonds it holds maturing in new purchases. It is usually positive for the US Dollar.
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