The Australian dollar is on the charge, rallying to the highest level since April 3 before easing into the New York close.
As seen in the 5-minute tick chart below, the Aussie's charge began with the release of solid Chinese economic data during the Asia session. From there, a combination of stop-loss buying, a rebound in Chinese commodity futures and weak US economic data saw the AUD/USD soar to as high as .7635 in early North American trade.
The Aussie's rally only came to an end following the release of the US Federal Reserve's latest interest rate decision later in the session, with the bank striking a more hawkish tone than many in the markets had expected.
"The Fed raised rates by 25 basis points but the details are arguably on the hawkish side of a last minute recalibration of expectations," said Richard Franulovich, chief currency strategist at Westpac Bank in New York.
"The dot plot median was unchanged with 3 hikes this year and next, GDP growth expectations nudged fractionally higher, while Chair Yellen expressed confidence that recent soft inflation readings are transitory.
"Reinforcing the full steam ahead message, the Fed announced details of its balance sheet normalisation plans."
That helped to trim the Aussie's earlier session gains, leaving it just below the 76 cent level this morning.
Still, as seen in the daily chart below, the AUD/USD has been on a stellar run recently, adding close to 3% in just the last nine sessions of trade.
Whether that run can continue today will largely be determined by the release of Australia's latest jobs report for May, released at 11.30am AEST.
Economists expect employment to increase by 10,000, leaving the unemployment rate steady at 5.7%.
Quarterly underemployment figures will also be released in the report -- a measure on the level of slack within the Australian labour market -- meaning this report carries the potential to be even more market moving than usual.
This 10-second guide has further details on what to expect.
Outside of the Australian jobs report, other regional highlights today include the release of New Zealand Q1 GDP at 8.45am AEST along with speeches from Bank of Japan governor Kuroda and Reserve Bank of Australia deputy governor Guy Debelle in the latter parts of Asian trade.
Later in the session, markets will also receive CPI figures from Italy and France, UK retail sales, trade data from the Eurozone along with manufacturing gauges from New York and Philadelphia, import and export prices, NAHB housing market index, industrial output and weekly jobless claims from the US.
The Bank of England will also announce its June monetary policy decision -- no change is expected -- while governor Mark Carney will also deliver a speech later in the session.
Here's the Aussie dollar scoreboard as a 8.05am AEST.
AUD/USD 0.7586 , 0.0001 , 0.01%
AUD/JPY 83.15 , 0.05 , 0.06%
AUD/CNH 5.1479 , 0.0011 , 0.02%
AUD/EUR 0.6763 , 0.0003 , 0.04%
AUD/GBP 0.5949 , 0.0001 , 0.02%
AUD/NZD 1.0445 , 0.0017 , 0.16%
Read more posts on Business Insider Australia »
