AUD/USD sidelined ahead of Fed speeches, RBA and Chinese GDP

• The US session will see three speeches from Fed members.
• Chinese GDP and the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) meeting’s minutes can provide some directionality later on.

The AUD/USD is mainly trading sideways between the 0.776-0.778 level in Monday’s trading as market participants are waiting for data to find a clear direction. 

Coming up in the US, are the speeches of three Fed officials. Dallas Fed President R.Kaplan, a non-voter in the rate-setting FOMC and having a hawkish stance is scheduled to speak at 16:00 GMT. Delivering his speech at the same time of the day will be the rather dovish Minneapolis Fed President N.Kahkari who is also non-voter and finally the Atlanta Fed President R.Bostic, FOMC voter and centrist is slated to speak at 17:15 GMT.

In Australia, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) meeting’s minutes are slated for Tuesday at 1:30 GMT. In its last Aprill meeting, the RBA left the key cash interest rate unchanged at 1.5%. This decision was expected by virtually most market analysts. The RBA, in its April statement, said that the Australian economy was strengthening in 2018 as compared to the previous year. 

Investors will also be on the lookout for the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) numbers of China slated at 2:00 GMT on Tuesday. China is the first Australian’s trading partner. A growing Chinese economy is usually a bullish sign for the AUD. 

Earlier, the US Retail Sales came in better-than-expected in March (month-on-month) at 0.6% versus -0.1% in January. The retail sales ex-autos came in line with analysts’ expectations at 0.2% m/m in March. The section of the retail sales called control group, included in the GDP, also came in line at 0.4% m/m as forecast by analysts. However, the Empire State Manufacturing Index fell to 15.8 in April from 22.5 the month earlier; analysts were forecasting 18.6 in April.

AUD/USD technical outlook:

“AUD/USD short-term momentum is increasing again, approaching hourly resistance at 0.7810 (28/12/2018 high) and heading along the 0.7805 range. Hourly support at 0.7638 (15/12/2017 low) is distanced. The technical structure suggests short-term upward moves.” writes Peter A. Rosenstreich from Swissquote Bank.