Australian dollar edges to the highs of the day

I'm carefully watching the Australian economy at the moment for signs that higher interest rates are biting as mortgage holders feel the squeeze. A good reading will come with January retail sales at 2330 GMT today. The consensus is for a +1.5% reading after a 3.9% contraction in December.

For now, AUD /USD is tracking the risk trade and making small gains. It's up 16 pips to 0.6742 which is a session high and narrowly above Friday's US highs.

There's room for more of a retracement here as other markets completely wipe out Friday's decline.