The euro’s early gains have been pared with EUR/USD now flat at 1.1235 and the dollar is little changed overall once again. The Japanese yen is still slightly higher, with USD/JPY down 0.3% to 138.28 and that owes a to the slightly lower Treasury yields on the day.

This comes as equities continue to also keep in a more tepid mood. US futures are little changed and European indices are also more or less flat on the day at the moment. As much as the US retail sales data later may not be as important as the inflation numbers last week, it is still another key indicator of the economy and it seems like traders are waiting on that.

Besides the yen, the kiwi is the laggard with NZD/USD down 0.5% to just below 0.6300 again as we do see a push higher in AUD/NZD to 1.0820 on the day. The latter is running close to its 200-day moving average of 1.0823, so that could be a reason for the flows we’re seeing in the kiwi on the session.

Elsewhere, gold is up 0.4% to $1,962 but keeping within the ranges of the last few sessions. And WTI crude is little changed at $74.25 after having seen the Saudi spike higher yesterday fade rather quickly, with price action trapped between its 100 and 200-day moving averages at $73.50 and $77.04 respectively.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.