Retreats from 0.7770 Again

Spot AUD/USD in the middle of its range now, last trading at 0.7758 up around 7 pips on the session. The pair rose as high as 0.7771 but retreated from the level. There is talk of offers around 0.7770, the pair touched this level in European trade yesterday before eventually retreating as low as 0.7724.

• CBA says the labour market report was broadly positive: "The January labour force report indicates that the labour market continues to head in the desired direction. The decent increase in employment of 29.1k over January was essentially in line with consensus (+30k; CBA +50k). Today's data means that employment now sits 'just' 66k down on pre‑COVID‑19 levels (recall that employment contracted by 878k between March and May). Put simply, the Australian labour market has staged a V shaped recovery."
• CBA are also positive on the outlook for the labour market: "The forward looking indicators of labour demand look healthy. Official job vacancies, for example, suggest that the unemployment rate could drop very quickly if the historical relationship between vacancies, the level of unemployment and the unemployment rate were to hold"
• 1-week ATM implied volatility has risen this week, last up 46bps at 9.33%, just off yesterday's high of 9.71%, as the pair hovers around key resistance at 0.7770 with cycle highs not far off just above 0.78.