AUD Tumbles Amid Strong US Data and Yields
The Australian Dollar (AUD) declined against the US Dollar (USD) on Thursday despite the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) decision to raise interest rates by 25 basis points (bps) to 4.6% on Tuesday.
The RBA Governor Michele Bullock left the door open for further monetary tightening, citing a commitment to bringing inflation back toward its 2% target.
However, trade data released on Thursday showed that Australia's Trade Balance surplus narrowed sharply to A$495M from A$1.351B in July, with imports rising 5.8% and exports increasing 3.7%.
The strong US economy, reflected in the latest data, including a drop in Initial Jobless Claims to 197K and an upward revision of US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for the second quarter to an annualized rate of 2.2%, weighed on the AUD/USD pair.