Australian Dollar Plummits Post Disappointing Labor Force Data Release

Talking Points

• Australian Dollar declines post labor force data release
• Unemployment Rate 6.4% vs 6.2% expected
• Australia losses 12.2K jobs in the month of January

The Australian Dollar declined by as much as 70 pips after a disappointing Job Report from January. The market expected the country to lose roughly 5K jobs in the month of January; however actual figures proved to be more disappointing with 12.2K jobs lost. Most of the losses came from Full Time Employment which lost 28.1K jobs vs gaining 46.4K back in December. The Unemployment Rate also came in worse at 6.4% in January vs 6.2% expected. The only sign of growth came from the Part Time Employment which added 15.9K jobs in January vs losing 4.1K back in December.

January’s labor force data proved to be in line with RBA’s overall negative sentiment on the economy from last week’s rate decision. Markets are pricing in a 70% chance of a rate cut from RBA during the next Monetary Policy Announcement. Currency Analyst David Song mentioned in his article that the AUD/USD risked fresh 2015 lows if January’s Australian Employment Report proved dismal. While the pair has not breached a fresh 2015 low after the data announcement, AUD/USD is not far away from it.