Australian Dollar Rises After Hawkish Remarks from RBA Governor Bullock

The Australian Dollar (AUD) has strengthened following the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) recent monetary policy decision on Tuesday. The RBA opted to keep the Official Cash Rate (OCR) steady at 4.35% for the sixth consecutive time. After the decision, RBA Governor Michele Bullock spoke at a press conference, stressing the importance of maintaining focus on inflation. Bullock pointed out the ongoing risk that inflation could take longer to reach the target, indicating that interest rates may need to stay elevated for an extended period. She also noted that a near-term reduction in the cash rate does not align with the current strategy.

The AUD has faced pressure against the US Dollar (USD) due to rapid policy shifts by central banks and growing concerns about a potential hard landing for the US economy. Additionally, second-quarter inflation data has lowered expectations for another rate hike by the RBA. Market forecasts now anticipate an RBA rate cut as soon as November, much earlier than the previous prediction of April next year.

Meanwhile, the US Dollar is weakening as expectations build for a 50-basis point (bps) interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) in September. The CME FedWatch tool shows a 74.5% probability of this larger-than-expected cut occurring at the September meeting, a sharp increase from the 11.4% likelihood reported just a week earlier.