AUD/USD climbs to a fresh monthly-high (0.7675) following a 61.6K expansion in Australia Employment, and the pair may stage a larger recovery ahead of the weekend as it extends the series of higher highs & lows from earlier this week.

Keep in mind, the broader outlook for AUD/USD remains tilted to the downside as the pair continues to track the downward trending channel from September, and the exchange rate may continue to exhibit a bearish behavior in 2018 as the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) remains in no rush to lift the cash rate off of the record-low. Indeed, the ongoing improvement in the labor market may encourage the RBA to adopt a hawkish tone as Governor Philip Lowe warns that ‘it is more likely that the next move in interest rates will be up, rather than down,’ but the central bank may merely attempt to buy more time at its next meeting on February 6 as ‘household incomes are growing slowly and debt levels are high.’

Nevertheless, the near-term outlook for AUD/USD has perked up as the pair finally rebounds off of channel support, and the topside targets remain on the radar going into the week ahead especially as the Relative Strength Index (RSI) snaps the bearish formation carried over from the summer months. Want to learn more about popular trading indicators and tools such as the RSI?

AUD/USD Daily Chart

The near-term rebound in EUR/USD unravels as the European Central Bank (ECB) endorses a wait-and-see approach for monetary policy, and the pair may continue to consolidate over the remainder of the year as especially as the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) appears to be on course to deliver another three rate-hikes in 2018.