AUD/USD clings to modest recovery gains, around mid-0.7000s

   •  Rebound in Aussie retail sales/trade surplus data helped regain some traction.
   •  A subdued USD price action remained supportive of the modest recovery move.

The AUD/USD pair managed to gain some positive traction and has now recovered a part of the previous session's slump to just over two-month lows.

With investors looking past Wednesday's dismal Aussie GDP growth figures, the Australian Dollar found some support following today's mixed release of monthly retail sales and trade balance data. 

Following a sharp contraction of 0.4% in the previous month, Aussie retail sales rebounded in January and rose 0.1% m/m but were still short of market expectations pointing to a growth of 0.3%. 

Meanwhile, an unexpected jump in the trade surplus, coming in at A$4.5 billion in January as against A$3.00 billion expected and A$3.681 billion, turned out to be one of the key factors lending some support.

Meanwhile, a subdued US Dollar price action, especially after the previous session's rather unimpressive ADP report, extended some additional support and remained supportive of the attempted bounce on Thursday.

It, however, remains to be seen if the pair is able to capitalize on the recovery move or meets with some fresh supply at higher levels as investors still await fresh updates on the US-China trade deal.

Today's relatively thin US economic docket, featuring the second-tier release of initial weekly jobless claims, seems unlikely to provide any meaningful impetus ahead of Friday's closely watched monthly jobs report (NFP).

Technical levels to watch