The Australian dollar showed little reaction to the release of Australian retail sales earlier today. In the European session, AUD/USD is trading at 0.6600, down o.15%. Australia’s retail sales sink in December The markets were braced for a soft December retail sales but the damage was worse than expected. Retail sales fell by 2.7% m/m, following a downwardly revised 1.6% gain in November and much weaker than the consensus estimate of -1%. This was the steepest decline in retail sales since August 2020, as consumers did their Christmas shopping early and took advantage of Black Friday sales in November. Any hopes…