AUD/USD slides after RBA’s minutes, weaker Chinese data

The AUD/USD pair falls 0.62% as US economic data remains strong, while weaker-than-expected Chinese data weighs on the Australian Dollar.

Hawkish remarks from Federal Reserve officials and concerns over “unacceptably high inflation” keep the US Dollar well-supported in the North American session. The Reserve Bank of Australia minutes show potential for future rate hikes, depending on economic and inflation developments, while Consumer Confidence in Australia declines.

The AUD/USD retraces from daily highs of 0.6709 and drops 0.62% after a slew of economic data from the United States (US) showed that the economy remains resilient amidst 500 bps of rate hikes implemented by the US Fed. Additionally, weaker data than foreseen data from China weighed on the Australian Dollar (AUD). At the time of writing, the AUD/USD is trading at 0.6656, below its opening price.

US economic docket revealed that Retails Sales in April missed estimates but improved compared to March figures. Monthly, sales grew 0.4%, aligned with forecasts, while excluding autos, rose 0.4%, above March’s -0.5% contraction. Annually based, Retail Sales expanded at a 1.6% pace below the last month’s 2.4% growth.