Retail Sales Fall In December, Jobs Claims Rise More Than Expected

As this Yahoo! Finance report details, December retail sales fell 0.3%. Jobless claims rose more than expected - an increase of 11,000 instead of the expected 3,000.

The U.S. dollar sunk somewhat in sympathy, but not by much. After making a near-term bottom at 76.8, the U.S. Dollar Index has reversed course. As of the time of this post, it's spurted up to 76.90.

Spot gold, after blipping up while the greenback fell, has turned downwards below the $1,140 level. Evidently, after an initial reaction, the market has decided that there wasn't that much to the data.