Chart Of The Day: Aussie Dollar Buoyed By Gold Rush

 | Jul 27, 2020 09:54AM ET

The Australian dollar has flown to a 15-month high, thanks to a number of factors that have created a powerful tailwind. 

First, is the risk-on trade that has brought global equities to the levels seen before the coronavirus pandemic erupted pre-covid levels, at the expense of the US dollar, which in turn has brought record-low yields and record highs for gold.  That’s the narrative, whether justifiable or not.

Second, the Federal Reserve is out-printing the Reserve Bank of Australia, diluting the value of each US dollar.

Third is an expectation that Australia will recover more quickly than the US. 

The record-high in gold above $1,930 an ounce has buoyed the Aussie dollar. As the world’s third-largest gold producing country, the currency from Down Under has an 80% correlation with the price of gold. The more people pay for gold, the more people have to buy the AUD with which to pay for Australian produced gold.