**As seen in Risk In The Week report 09/08/23, subscribe at cablefxm.co.uk/reports
Australian labour market contracted by 14.6K in July, this followed an addition of 32.6K jobs and missed expectations for a +15.0K. The jobless rate ticked higher to 3.7%, this was above the consensus forecast of 3.6% and is now at the highest since May 2022. The participation rate eased to 66.7% from 66.8%. The report came to cool down expectations for further RBA tightening, however, the current situation still argues for a tight labour market, the central bank forecasts the jobless to rise to 4.0% this year. More recently, the RBA left policy unchanged at 4.1% for a third consecutive month, this was the last meeting for Governor Lowe as head of the central bank. The desk at MUFG noted that despite high core inflation and tight labour markets, the RBA has started to mention the recent slowdown in China as a source of uncertainty. They added that this factor is likely to be the top driver for the AUD as the RBA remains on hold.
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