AUD/USD spikes to 0.6185 but then retreats toward 0.6100

• Aussie jumps across the board but then erases most of its gains. 
• AUD/USD volatility soars over the last minutes, remains near weekly highs. 

The AUD/USD jumped from 0.606 to 0.6185, hitting a fresh daily high and moving closer to the two-week high it reached yesterday at 0.6213. It quickly pulled back and as of writing was trading at 0.6110, modestly lower for the day but far from the daily low. After the beginning of the American session bottomed at 0.6037, before bouncing to the upside. The spike in AUD/USD had no particular trigger.

The move off lows took place as Wall Street indexes trimmed losses and also as US Dollar’s strength eased. The Dow Jones was falling 2.15% after being down almost 4%. The US Dollar Index was up 0.65%, at 99.70. 

AUD/NZD also jumped from 1.0265 to 1.0350 in a few minutes, hitting the highest intraday level in three weeks. Then, it give up most of the rally, pulling back under 1.0300. The other currency pair that made a similar move was NZD/USD but less intense: it rose from 0.5905 to 0.5977, also pulling back later. 

Technical outlook 

The AUD/USD is showing some exhaustion of last week rally and the four-hours chart show technical indicators pointing south. If the pair manages to break and hold on top of 0.6200, the Aussie should clear the way to more gains. The next strong resistance is seen around 0.6310/20. While under 0.6120, the intraday outlook will favor the downside. The critical short-term support could be seen at 0.6020: a break lower would expose the next support at 0.5960.