The AUD/USD is back trading at its highs after retail sales came in worse than expected.

The retail sales figure for January showed 0.1% vs 0.3% exp. This is a weak result, but still better than the prior month of -0.04%.

There have been growing concerns for traditional retailers as Amazon has recently launched in Australia and a few profit warnings coming from some of Australia’s major retailers.

Overall, this reflects the poor state of the economy and the fact that there are clearly some concerns for the RBA.

At the same time, there was a better than expected trade balance for January which is helping to support the AUD/USD.

AUD/USD is Weak

The AUD/USD] fell all the way from near on 0.7100 yesterday through 0.7050 and post the release has cracked as low as 0.7020.

Price appears to be bouncing for now and if we take the highs that’s a strong sign.

If they fail, look for a sharp fall back to where we came from.