The AUD/USD has been relatively quiet in Asian trade so far with little news having an impact on the currency just yet.

There have been some minor releases with the most interesting been November Trade Balance.

• Trade Balance was 1925bn surplus which was a miss
• Exports +1% m/m (prior also +1%)
• Imports +2.% (prior +3%)

Overall a mixed bag, but at the same time this isn’t really a market mover.

The key data point for us this week will be retail sales and as I suggested yesterday, the fact that a major Aussie retailer has already come out recently and suggested that their holiday sales were weak, is a bit of a leading indicator.

Aussie Outlook

The AUD/USD has held the major level at 0.7100 and is now pushing up to 0.7150.

0.7200 is clearly a bigger and more important level and I suspect there will be some trouble getting through that point.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see equity markets have some red days and volatility come back in which sours the risk-on plays like the AUD.

Hopefully, 0.7050 and 0.7000 will then provide some support.