Yen Broadly Ignores Weak Retail Data

The Japanese currency moved negligibly higher after retail sales unexpectedly declined further than expectations in December.

Sales were down 1.2% month-over-month despite calls for a 0.2% contraction and after a 0.2% shortfall in November. Annual sales, meanwhile, fell by 0.3% contrary to calls for a 0.3% increase. In November, sales were down 1.0%.

On the flip side large retailers did better than projected with annual sales down 4.6% year-over-year, slower than calls for a 7.3% pullback and prior 9.6% contraction.

The yen failed to show any meaningful reaction to the data after heading lower in the aftermath of what was a relatively hawkish interest rate decision from the FOMC earlier in the day.

In the immediate aftermath of the retail data, USD/JPY fell by a mere five pips to 89.95 after trading in a range of 89.97 to 90.05 throughout the day. There is support at 89.14 with resistance at 90.09.