Themes

• General mood is “risk off”
• U.S. Retail Sales weaker than expected at -1.9%
• Key Chinese and Japanese data set for release today

What’s Moving

Our of the gates, the USD was hit in U.S. trade by a softer than expected Retail Sales number. The market had low hopes for the data to begin with, with the market looking for a flat number. Noone was expecting a contraction and that’s what we got.

Afternoon dealings saw little more than pre-weekend position adjustment, with the Dollar seeing a short-covering bounce and with equities ending mixed on the day.

Thoughts

With mixed and directionless trade posted in New York on Friday, expect the usual consolidation in Asia today. There is however some key data set for release locally which may move markets if they surprise. Data today in Asia includes:

• Japanese Core Machinery Orders (E: +1.3%)
• Chinese GDP (E: +3.3%)
• Chinese Retail Sales (E: +3.8%)
• Chinese Unemployment (E: 5.0%)

Pivot Points