FX.co ★ Australian Dollar on 4-Session Decline

The Australian dollar declined past $0.658 on Monday, marking its fourth successive session of losses and hovering near a two-week low, as the US dollar continued to gain strength. The US dollar's rise was underpinned by a more hawkish stance from the Federal Reserve, despite the widely expected quarter-point rate reduction last week. Investors are now keenly monitoring a series of speeches by Fed officials set for this week, including one from Chair Jerome Powell. Particular focus will be on their perspectives concerning the economic outlook and the Fed’s policy independence. Domestically, attention is shifting to today's PMI data, followed by Wednesday's release of the Monthly CPI Indicator. The inflation report will be carefully analyzed to determine whether July’s significant CPI increase was mainly due to the end of electricity subsidies or indicative of broader inflationary trends. If inflation remains high or accelerates further, expectations for rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of Australia could be postponed well into the coming year.