Auusiie dollar up on US data

Financial and commodity markets analytics

The Australian dollar received a boost today after weaker than expected data out of America pushed back expectations of an interest rate hike from the US Federal Reserve.

At 7.49pm (GMT) the Aussie dollar was trading at US77.38c up 0.30 percent in yesterday’s trade.

The latest durable goods order from the US hit the market today at 0.8 percent, up from -3.0 percent in the previous month but well below analysts expectations for a figure of 1.8 percent.

The weak consumer spending figures follow on to the business sector with companies reluctant to hire more staff which will eventually hit another key indicator, the unemployment rate.

“At best you’re treading water here,” said Jacob Oubina, a senior U.S. economist at RBC Capital Markets LLC in New York,

 “There is a general carving out of a bottom in the weakness that’s plagued the manufacturing space, but I don’t think we’re heading into a significantly more upbeat backdrop unless you start to see a firmer recovery in oil.” He added.

The disappointing numbers have also justified US Fed president Janet Yellen’s stance of taking a prudent approach to tightening monetary policy when she mentioned in her last speech that interest rate hikes would be data dependent.

Most analysts now believe there is less than a 5 percent chance that the Fed will raise rates in June.