AUD/USD approaches 0.6600 as US Dollar underperforms

The AUD/USD pair extends its winning streak for the ninth trading day on Wednesday. The Aussie pair posts a fresh monthly high near 0.6580 as the US Dollar (USD) underperforms its peers, following expectations that White House Economic Adviser Kevin Hassett could replace Federal Reserve’s (Fed) Jerome Powell as Chairman, when his term ends in May.

At the press time, the US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the Greenback’s value against six major currencies, posts a fresh monthly low around 98.90.

US Dollar Price Today

The table below shows the percentage change of US Dollar (USD) against listed major currencies today. US Dollar was the weakest against the British Pound.

	USD	EUR	GBP	JPY	CAD	AUD	NZD	CHF
USD		-0.33%	-0.60%	-0.23%	-0.27%	-0.37%	-0.28%	-0.34%
EUR	0.33%		-0.27%	0.07%	0.06%	-0.04%	0.08%	-0.01%
GBP	0.60%	0.27%		0.37%	0.34%	0.24%	0.33%	0.27%
JPY	0.23%	-0.07%	-0.37%		-0.04%	-0.13%	-0.05%	-0.11%
CAD	0.27%	-0.06%	-0.34%	0.04%		-0.10%	-0.02%	-0.07%
AUD	0.37%	0.04%	-0.24%	0.13%	0.10%		0.09%	0.03%
NZD	0.28%	-0.08%	-0.33%	0.05%	0.02%	-0.09%		-0.06%
CHF	0.34%	0.01%	-0.27%	0.11%	0.07%	-0.03%	0.06%

The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the US Dollar from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the Japanese Yen, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent USD (base)/JPY (quote).

On Tuesday, United States (US) President Donald Trump teased the name of White House economic adviser Hassett, in a White House event, when asked by reporters who could be Fed Powell’s successor.

“I guess a potential Fed chair is here too. Am I allowed to say that? Potential. He’s a respected person, that I can tell you. Thank you, Kevin,” Trump said, Reuters reported.

Growing investor acceptance that White House adviser Hassett will be the Fed’s next Chairman is unfavorable for the US Dollar, given that he has supported lower interest rates several times in the past.

Meanwhile, the Australian Dollar (AUD) outperforms a majority of its peers as hawkish views on the monetary policy outlook from Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Michele Bullock have offset the impact of unexpectedly weak Q3 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data.

Earlier in the day, RBA’s Bullock said before the parliamentary committee that monetary policy adjustments would be needed if price pressures turn out to be sticky. “If inflation proves more persistent, it would have implications for policy,” Bullock said.

In the Asian session, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that the GDP growth was 0.4%. Economists expected the economic growth to be 0.7%, faster than 0.6% in the second quarter of the year.

Economic Indicator

ADP Employment Change

The ADP Employment Change is a gauge of employment in the private sector released by the largest payroll processor in the US, Automatic Data Processing Inc. It measures the change in the number of people privately employed in the US. Generally speaking, a rise in the indicator has positive implications for consumer spending and is stimulative of economic growth. So a high reading is traditionally seen as bullish for the US Dollar (USD), while a low reading is seen as bearish.