The Australian dollar has jumped in the American session today after US Federal Reserve President Janet Yellen noted that the central bank would need to be cautious moving ahead with monetary policy.

At 8.23pm (GMT) the Aussie dollar was trading at US 76.34c up 1.20 percent from yesterday’s trading.

Speaking to the economic club of New York,Yellen noted that inflation is still a bit of a worry as growth in the economy remains clouded which may put downward pressure the oil price again which in turn may underpin the US dollar.

"The inflation outlook has also become somewhat more uncertain since the turn of the year, in part for reasons related to risks to the outlook for economic growth," she said.

 "To the extent that recent financial market turbulence signals an increased chance of a further slowing of growth abroad, oil prices could resume falling, and the dollar could start rising again." she added.

In response to a question from the crowd Yellen noted that overall growth has fallen short of expectations in the last 3 months,

"The major thing that changed since December and March that affects the baseline outlook is the slightly weaker-than-expected pace of global growth," Yellen said

After President Yellen’s speech the market is pricing in only a 7 percent chance that the Fed will raise rates in April and a 50 percent chance that the will be a hike before the end of the year.