Someone got an early tip-off that the retail sales data was better than expected as the market moved swiftly from 1.0615 to 1.0630 a full minute before the much-better than expected data was released. That aside, those of us worrying that the Australian economy might be slowing down more than expected are probably being a little alarmist, given this strong data. The trade balance was worse than expected but this was a result of higher imports, another sign of continued economic activity. (full story)