• AUD/USD remains on the defensive near 0.6491 amid the firmer USD. 
• US Initial Jobless Claims rose by 218K from a week earlier, stronger than expected. 
• RBA’s Bullock said the board is focused on bringing inflation down, and the evidence of inflation is encouraging.

The AUD/USD pair extends its downside and holds below the 0.6500 mark during the early Asian session on Friday. The hawkish comments from Federal Reserve (Fed) officials and a stronger US Dollar (USD) weigh on the pair. AUD/USD currently trades around 0.6491, losing 0.01% on the day. 

On Thursday, the US weekly Initial Jobless Claims fell to 218K for the week ended February 3 from the previous week of 227K, better than the estimation of 220K. The report indicated ongoing labor market resilience. Continuing Claims decreased by 23K to 1.891M in the week ended January 27. Finally, Wholesale inventories of merchant wholesalers lifted 0.4% MoM and were down 2.7% YoY.

Many Fed officials signaled that they were in no rush to lower borrowing costs until they were confident that inflation would return to the 2% target. On Thursday, Fed Richmond President Thomas Barkin reiterated that policymakers have time to be patient about the timing of rate cuts due to a solid labor market and ongoing disinflation. The US central bank has raised its policy rate by 525 basis points (bps) to the current 5.25% to 5.50% range since March 2022