AUD/USD holds steady above 0.6850 ahead of Fedspeak

• AUD/USD trades flat around 0.6880 in Wednesday's early Asian session. 
• Fed's Powell seems to favor a gradual easing path. 
• China's stimulus plans and hawkish RBA might support the Aussie in the near term. 

The AUD/USD pair flatlines near 0.6880 during the early Asian session on Wednesday. Howver, the fear of wider war in the Middle East might boost the safe-haven flows and support the Greenback for the time being. Later on Wednesday, the US ADP Employment Change data is due, along with the speech from US Federal Reserve (Fed) Thomas Barkin, Raphael Bostic, Beth Hammack, Alberto Musalem, and Michelle Bowman. 

Earlier this month, the Fed decided to cut the federal funds rate by half a percentage point instead of the usual quarter point. However, Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicated on Monday that the Fed was not on any preset course in respect of monetary policy. According to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool, interest rate futures contracts have priced in a nearly 37.4% chance of a half-point cut in November, versus a 62.6% possibility of a quarter-point cut.

Meanwhile, the geopolitical risks might cap the downside for the US Dollar (USD). Bloomberg reported that Iran launched over 200 ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday after the US had warned just hours before that a strike was imminent. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows to retaliate against Iran for a missile attack on Tuesday, but Tehran warned that any response would result in "vast destruction," fuelling fears of a wider war.

On the Aussie front, China's fresh stimulus measures might continue to underpin the China-proxy Australian Dollar (AUD) as China is the largest trading partner of Australia. Additionally, the hawkish stance from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) could contribute to the AUD's upside.