The Australian dollar managed to recover mostly thanks to hopes that the Trump tariffs are not so bad and despite not-so-great Australian data. Can it continue higher? Speeches by RBA members and an important Chinese figure stand out. Here are the highlights of the week and an updated technical analysis for AUD/USD.

The Australian economy grew by only 0.4% in Q4 2017, worse than had been expected, but the RBA expects stronger GDP numbers in 2018. Other figures were mixed: building approvals increased by a whopping 17.1% while retail sales disappointed with a rise of only 0.1%. In the US, Trump eventually signed off the tariffs and lost his top economic advisor Gary Cohn. However, the exemptions that Canada and Mexico received open the door to a further watering down of the duties and allowed the Aussie to recover on a risk-rally. In addition, the hopes for peace in the Korean peninsula also improved the sentiment and gave a boost to the A$.

Updates

AUD/USD daily graph with support and resistance lines on it. Click to enlarge: