The dollar advanced on Thursday after strong U.S. retail sales data underpinned the resilience of the world’s largest economy, cementing the case that the Federal Reserve still has further to go in tightening rates.
Elsewhere, the Australian dollar slid after data on Thursday showed that employment surprised in January by falling for a second straight month, while the jobless rate jumped to its highest since last May.
The Aussie, which was marginally higher on the day prior to the data release, fell more than 0.5% to an intra-day low of $0.6868 in the aftermath, and last bought $0.6872.
“The readings for January have really undershot market expectations,” said Carol Kong, a currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
“Overall, some weakness indicated by the report … probably caused markets to pare back some of the interest rate rises pencilled in for the RBA rate hikes.”
Meanwhile, U.S. retail sales rebounded sharply in January after two straight monthly declines, driven by purchases of motor vehicles and other goods, the U.S. Commerce Department said on Wednesday.
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