The U.S. retail sales drop has spurred the Japanese yen to rise, tallying up gains for the week against the euro and the dollar, and helping out currency exchange traded funds (ETFs).

Investors are speculating that the sales drop will continue and therefore they are selling high-yielding assets and paying back low-cost loans in Japan’s currency. Daniel Kruger and Michael J. Moore for Bloomberg report the yen climbed against the Australian and New Zealand dollars today on bets that a Group of 20 nations summit this weekend will fail to reach a consensus on resolving the credit crisis, depleting carry trades.

The yen rose 1.5% vs. the dollar this week, its biggest gain since Oct. 24, and advanced 2.1 % against the euro.

CurrencyShares Japanese Yen (FXY) is up 13.7% year-to-date.

Meanwhile, gold futures have had a rally of their own,up to $47 per ounce as of Friday, shining up the appeal of other precious metals. The dim outlook for the global economy is mixing with the recent losses on Wall Street, creating a new demand for the metal.

Myra P. Saefong and Polya Lesova for MarketWatch report gold for December delivery tapped a high of $752 an ounce, climbing as much as 6.7% overnight in electronic trading on Globex. The metal is on pace for a 1% gain for the week. Midday today, silver futures jumped 7.8%, platinum was up almost 4% and copper soared 5%.

Agriculture and metal commodities, along with energy, are going to be the least affected by the stunted global growth, says Morgan Stanley. The investment bank says gold may climb above $1000 per ounce in 2011 as global mine output will drop, mining costs rise and global demand strengthens.

Bloomberg reports that the price of gold has more than doubled in the past six years and reached a record $1,032.70 an ounce on March 17 as the dollar slumped and oil advanced, increasing the possibility of accelerated inflation.

Regardless of what happens with gold, we still follow the trends, and gold is still below any “buy” signal for us. The largest gold fund, SPDR Gold Shares (GLD), is 7.4% off its 50-day moving average and down 12.5% year-to-date.

Read the disclosure, as Tom Lydon is a board member of Rydex Funds.

Tags: Copper, Currency ETFs, Euro, GLD, Gold, Japanese Yen, Platinum, Precious Metals, Silver