AUD/USD rallies a little on big retail sales beat, 0.7880 to give?

AUD/USD has so far failed to really impress considering the massive beat on Aussie retails sales. AUD/USD rallied from 0.7837 to a high of 74 on the same handle and somewhat shy of 12th Oct highs of 0.7896.

Australia November retail sales blow past expectations

Markets were expecting a positive bias in the data given the recent consumer sentiment rising but there were no estimates as high as the actual today which is much better looking compared to 2017's performance. The RBA has been tipped to hike in 2018 by a good slice of the economists out there and this data underpins such sentiment. 

Focus stays on yields

However, focus stays with the rise in US yields and the Federal Reserve on track to continue its normalisation of interest rates, odds (Fed fund futures) of a hike in March placed at 65%. The US 10yr treasury yields rose from 2.54% to 2.60% and to the highest since March 2017 after a Bloomberg report claimed unnamed China officials had recommended slowing or halting purchases of US treasuries.

AUD/USD levels

Technicals lean bullish while the price continues to consolidate near highs with prevalent RSIs biased positively. However, daily RSI is lower but a double bottom on the daily sticks supports the short-term while price traded below the 10-D SMA at 0.7827 again.