AUD/USD pares early gains, turns red near 0.6860

• Australia's trade surplus widened to 5,8 billion AUD in November.
• Annual CPI in China remained unchanged at 4.5% in December.
• US Dollar Index advances to 97.50 area ahead of speeches by FOMC members.

The AUD/USD pair struggled to find direction during the Asian session amid mixed macroeconomic data releases and turned south ahead of the American session. As of writing, the pair was down 0.06% on the day at 0.6861.

Earlier in the day, the data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that Australia's trade surplus widened to 5,8 billion AUD from 4.5 billion AUD in October but came in below the market expectation of 5.9 billion AUD. Commenting on the data, "much of the sharp improvement in the trade position has been due to resources exports but the weak A$ has also helped services exports, while soft domestic growth has kept a lid on imports," noted Westpac analysts.

In the meantime, the data from China showed that inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), stayed unchanged at 4.5% on a yearly basis in December and missed analysts' estimate of 4.7%. 

USD stays strong ahead of speeches by Fed officials

On the other hand, the sharp upsurge witnessed in the US Treasury bond yield on Wednesday and the better-than-expected ADP reading helped the greenback outperform its major rivals. With the US Dollar Index extending its rebound on Thursday, the pair struggled to stay in its consolidation channel and dropped into the negative territory. At the moment, the US Dollar Index is up 0.1% on the day at 97.40.

Later in the day, the weekly Initial Jobless Claims data from the United States and Federal Open Market Committee members Kaplan, Kashkari and Williams' speeches will be looked upon for fresh impetus.

Technical levels to watch for