Australian Dollar extends recovery as USD slides toward multi-year lows

AUD/USD trades near the 0.6280 region during Friday’s American session, extending this week’s rebound.
US sentiment data deteriorates further as tariff risks weigh on Fed flexibility and inflation expectations.
Key resistance is seen near 0.6240-0.6260, while downside is cushioned by 0.6180 support.

Patricio Martín FXStreet

The Australian Dollar (AUD) is strengthening on Friday, with the pair moving near the 0.6280 zone during the American session. The bullish tone for the Aussie emerges as the US Dollar (USD) continues to weaken across the board, dragged by lower-than-expected economic data and growing investor concern over inflation and trade policy. While momentum is cautiously improving, the broader trend remains technically bearish, with resistance zones limiting additional upside for now.

Daily digest market movers: US Dollar drops on consumer gloom and tariff fallout

The US Dollar Index (DXY) continues to weaken, sliding toward the 100 area and marking fresh three-year lows during Friday’s trade.
April’s University of Michigan sentiment survey missed expectations, while soft PPI figures revived disinflation concerns.
Federal Reserve (Fed) policymakers remain cautious, warning that while core inflation expectations are still stable, tariff-driven price pressures may persist longer than anticipated.
President Trump reiterated his confidence in reaching a deal with China, although tariffs remain elevated—145% on Chinese imports and 10% across the board for other nations.
Fed’s Musalem and Williams noted that a potential shift in long-term inflation expectations could limit the Fed’s policy options in the coming quarters.

(The technical analysis part of this article was removed on May 22 as it didn't comply with FXStreet's editorial standards regarding the use of Artificial Intelligence.)

US-China Trade War FAQs

What does “trade war” mean?

Generally speaking, a trade war is an economic conflict between two or more countries due to extreme protectionism on one end. It implies the creation of trade barriers, such as tariffs, which result in counter-barriers, escalating import costs, and hence the cost of living.

What is the US-China trade war?

An economic conflict between the United States (US) and China began early in 2018, when President Donald Trump set trade barriers on China, claiming unfair commercial practices and intellectual property theft from the Asian giant. China took retaliatory action, imposing tariffs on multiple US goods, such as automobiles and soybeans. Tensions escalated until the two countries signed the US-China Phase One trade deal in January 2020. The agreement required structural reforms and other changes to China’s economic and trade regime and pretended to restore stability and trust between the two nations. However, the Coronavirus pandemic took the focus out of the conflict. Yet, it is worth mentioning that President Joe Biden, who took office after Trump, kept tariffs in place and even added some additional levies.

Trade war 2.0

The return of Donald Trump to the White House as the 47th US President has sparked a fresh wave of tensions between the two countries. During the 2024 election campaign, Trump pledged to impose 60% tariffs on China once he returned to office, which he did on January 20, 2025. With Trump back, the US-China trade war is meant to resume where it was left, with tit-for-tat policies affecting the global economic landscape amid disruptions in global supply chains, resulting in a reduction in spending, particularly investment, and directly feeding into the Consumer Price Index inflation.

Author

Patricio Martín

FXStreet

Patricio is an economist from Argentina passionate about global finance and understanding the daily movements of the markets.

GBP/USD retreats from multi-day highs around 1.3550

GBP/USD now gives away part of the earlier advance toward the 1.3550 region, or multi-week peaks, looking to consolidate around the 1.3530 region on Wednesday. Cable’s continuation of its march north follows the modest downside pressure on the Greenback after US CPI readings matched consensus in July.

EUR/USD eases from tops, back to 1.1550

EUR/USD now surrenders some gains and recedes toward the 1.1550 regio on Wednesday. Despite the knee-jerk, spot keeps the bid tone intact amid the offered stance in the US Dollar, all in the wake of in-line US inflation data in July. However, the fragile landscape in the Middle East is expected to put a floor to the occasional downward trend in the buck.

Gold challenges 10-week highs near $4,450

Gold now pushes harder and climbs to new two-month highs near $4,450 per troy ounce on Wednesday. The yellow metal’s solid performance comes on the back of a weaker US Dollar and declining US Treasuty yields across the curve as investors assess the latest US CPI data.

Ripple lags recovery as exchange reserves expand

Ripple is trading within a broadly constrained technical structure, with support at $1.00 and key moving averages limiting its recovery potential. In August, the remittance token declined by approximately 6.5%, extending its total pullback to around 14% from July's $1.18 peak.

911 million shares freed: Why SpaceX rallied into its own supply

The most heavily trailed supply event of the year landed on August 6, and the SpaceX (SPCX) stock went up. Roughly 911.5 million shares held by insiders and early backers became eligible to trade, around 43% more than the entire float sold at the listing.

9-3: Is the Federal Reserve’s vote tally Warsh's new forward guidance?

The rate did not move. Neither did the statement, and that’s the more interesting fact. Set the July 29 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) statement beside the one issued on June 17, and the two documents are identical apart from a single verb and a paragraph at the bottom naming three dissenters.