AUD/USD holds above the mid-0.6400s, eyes on the US housing data

• AUD/USD struggles to gain ground above 0.6500 and trades near 0.6468, adding 0.07% on the day.
• The US weekly Initial Claims climbed to the highest level in nearly three months.
• Employment growth in Australia came in better than the estimation.
• Traders will focus on the US housing data on Friday.

The AUD/USD pair failed to reclaim the 0.6500 mark and hovers around 0.6468 during the early Asian session on Friday. The US Dollar (USD) gains ground despite softer US economic data and the fall in US yields.

On Thursday, the US Initial Claims for the week ending November 11 climbed to 231K, the highest level in nearly three months. While Continuing Jobless Claims reached the highest level since 2022. US Industrial Production dropped 0.6% m/m in October. Finally, the Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Index rose to -2.0 in November vs -8.0 prior. The softer US job supports the speculation that the Federal Reserve (Fed) is done with the tightening cycle.

Employment growth in Australia came in better than expected, climbing by 55k in October. The Unemployment Rate increased from 3.6% to 3.7%. The markets expect another 25 basis points (bps) hikes in February. However, the rate cut is unlikely to begin until November 2024.

Looking ahead, the US housing data, including Building Permit and Housing Start will be released. The Housing Starts is expected to decline from 1.358M to 1.35M and the Building Permits are forecast to drop from 1.471M to 1.45M.