Australia adds 21,600 jobs in December, jobless rate drops to 5.0%

Dhwani Mehta FXStreet

The Australian unemployment rate dropped to 5.0 percent in December, even as the economy added 21,600 jobs, the latest data published by the Australia Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed this Thursday. The markets were expecting a job addition of 16,500. Employment for the previous month was 37,000 addition.

Meanwhile, full-time jobs came in at -3,000 compared to -6,400 seen in November. The part-time employment rose 24,600 versus 43,400 last. The participation rate slipped to 65.6% in the reported month versus 65.7% previous.

Dec Key Points (Source: ABS)

Employment increased 23,100 to 12,711,600. Full-time employment increased 11,800 to 8,697,600 and part-time employment increased 11,200 to 4,014,000.

Unemployment decreased 3,200 to 670,900.

The unemployment rate remained steady at 5.0%.

Participation rate remained steady at 65.6%.

Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 1.1 million hours to 1759.9 million hours.

Seasonally adjusted estimates (Monthly change)

Employment increased 21,600 to 12,714,100. Full-time employment decreased 3,000 to 8,678,800 and part-time employment increased 24,600 to 4,035,300.

Unemployment decreased 14,100 to 666,700.

Unemployment rate decreased 0.1 percentage points (pts) to 5.0%.

Participation rate decreased by less than 0.1 pts to 65.6%.

Monthly hours worked in all jobs increased 1.3 million hours to 1758.9 million hours.

Author

Dhwani Mehta

FXStreet

Residing in Mumbai (India), Dhwani is a Senior Analyst and Manager of the Asian session at FXStreet. She has over 10 years of experience in analyzing and covering the global financial markets, with specialization in Forex and commodities markets.

AUD/USD flirts with 0.7000, lowest since early August amid bullish USD

AUD/USD hits a fresh low since early August during the Asian session on Friday and looks vulnerable near 0.7000 after breaking below the 200-day SMA overnight. Against the backdrop of the hawkish Fed, a two-day rally in oil prices revives inflation fears and continues to push US bond yields to multi-year highs. Adding to this, geopolitical risks lift the US Dollar to a two-month high, overshadowing RBA rate hike bets and weighing on the pair.

USD/JPY pulls back from three-week high after failing near 159.00

USD/JPY edges lower during the Asian session on Friday, stalling its recent strong move to a three-week high of 159.00 as Japanese Yen bears turn cautious amid intervention fears. Meanwhile, the US Dollar retains a strong bullish undertone as the Fed's hawkish outlook and oil-driven inflation fears continue to push US bond yields to multi-year peaks. Furthermore, the BoJ's dovish rate hike last week might cap JPY and support spot prices.

Gold treads water below $4,300

Gold grabs some buying attention and advances marginally at the end of the week, partially retracing the weekly decline, although it is still navigating below the key $4,300 mark per troy ounce. The fresh selling bias on the Greenback and the modest decline in US Treasury yields appear to support the humble advance in the precious metal.

Week ahead: Rate hike bets face a crucial data week

Despite the solid drop from the mid-September high, oil prices remained in the driver’s seat for another week, setting the tone in financial markets. Six months have passed since the late-February start of the US-Iran conflict, and there is still no breakthrough in the stalled talks, despite pressure from regional leaders and the rest of the world.

CFTC Report: Defensive currency positioning takes hold

The week in one sentence: Sterling and Euro shorts deepened in the week to September 22, while Yen longs were cut sharply. Oil positioning improved despite a steep price decline, and Gold exposure remained crowded. The main signal was a more defensive currency positioning backdrop.

Fed vs BoJ: Both hiked. The market only believes one of them – and the chart shows which

The Fed and the BoJ have just done something remarkably similar. Both central banks raised interest rates by 25 bps last week, both are confronting inflation risks, and both signal that future decisions will depend on incoming economic data.