AUD/USD remains under selling pressure near 0.6400 ahead of the US CPI data

The AUD/USD pair attracts some sellers and drops to the 0.6400 area during the early European trading hours on Wednesday. The pair is trading near 0.6404, losing 0.33% on the day. Markets turn cautious ahead of the highly anticipated US inflation data.

The Australian Consumer Confidence Index fell into negative territory in August, limiting the Australian dollar's upside potential. Data released on Tuesday revealed that Australia’s Westpac Consumer Confidence for September fell by 1.5% to 79.7, following a 0.4% drop in the previous reading. The figures fueled concern about the impact of the economic slowdown in China.

Additionally, Beijing's delayed implementation of additional stimulus measures has increased the level of concern. It’s worth noting that China is Australia’s top trading partner and the economic downturn in China might exert some selling pressure on the Aussie.

On the other hand, the US Dollar (USD) may benefit from the higher for longer interest rate narrative in the US. The August US Consumer Price Index (CPI) could provide hints about the further monetary policy from the Federal Reserve (Fed) for the rest of the year. The annual CPI figure is anticipated to rise from 3.2% to 3.6%, while the core figure is expected to fall from 4.7% to 4.3%.

Market players await the US Consumer Price Index for August due later in the day. The stronger-than-expected data might convince the Fed to hike an additional rate. Attention will shift to the Australian employment data and the US Producer Price Index (PPI) for August on Thursday. These figures could give a clear direction to the AUD/USD pair.

AUD/USD technical outlook:

The AUD/USD pair trades below the 50- and 100-hour Exponential Moving Averages (EMAs) on the one-hour chart, indicating that the path of least resistance for the pair is to the downside.

Resistance level: 0.6432, 0.6500 and 0.6522

Support level: 0.6400, 0.6380 and 0.6365