Ella 
AUD/USD fell 0.73% on Wednesday after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand took a dovish stance, following a solid inflation report from Australia. After the Asian market opened, AUD/USD was at 0.6496, basically unchanged.
AUD/USD fell as investors weighed the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s move on hold and expectations for Australian retail sales data.
Wall Street closed lower, with the S&P 500 down 0.30%. Economic data from the U.S. shows U.S. economic growth is above the trend needed to push inflation toward the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. In the fourth quarter of 2023, the annualized quarterly rate of GDP recorded 3.2%, lower than the expected value of 3.3% and the previous value of 4.9%.
Beyond that, Fed spokesmen maintained a cautious stance, with Boston Fed President Susan Collins and New York Fed President John Williams supporting a rate cut later this year. Collins noted that the road to achieving the inflation target would be “bumpy,” and Williams said: “We still have a long way to go on the road to sustained inflation of 2 percent.”
Beyond that, Australian inflation data took a back seat as prices decided to keep interest rates at 5.50% while removing hawkish comments from the monetary policy statement. AUD/USD and NZD/USD traders gathered more signals from RBNZ Governor Adrian Orr’s Q&A session. Orr mentioned discussions about raising interest rates. That said, the strong consensus aims to maintain current levels of tightening, adding that some variables suggest monetary policy is working.
