Australian dollar falls across the board as retail sales figures shows an economy stuck in neutral

In short

1. The Australian dollar opened up on Friday down against the US dollar, Euro, Japanese Yen, British Pound and the New Zealand dollar
2. Retail sales figures showed 0.0% growth compared to an expectation of about 0.3%
3. While the figures show the economy is not growing, it isn't a massive surprise

The Aussie dollar opened this morning down against all the major currencies.

Weak retail sales figures out yesterday sent the Australian dollar lower.

Why?

Well, the figures showed that there was no growth in retail sales (how much Australian's spend) in the last month. This was even lower than what most of the market had expected. As a result, the chances of a rate cut in February increased. Any change in interest rate expectations directly affect the AUD exchange rate. In this case, the increase chance of a rate cut sent the Australian dollar lower.