The USD/CAD currency pair today retraced some of its earlier gains despite the release of positive US advance retail sales data. The currency pair remained in a slight uptrend boosted by a sharp decline in global crude oil prices as tracked by the West Texas Intermediate.
The USD/CAD currency pair retreated from its daily high of 1.2866 set during the European session to an intraday low of 1.2814, and struggled to rally higher in the early American session.
The US dollar failed to rally higher against the Canadian dollar despite the release of strong US advance retail sales data by the Census Bureau in the early American session. The greenback’s lackluster performance was largely attributed to the weak inflation outlook by the FOMC yesterday. The advance retail sales for November were recorded at 0.8%, which was much higher than the expected 0.3% increase. The release of the better-than-expected initial jobless claims data could not trigger a rally in the currency pair. The Department of Labor reported that the jobless claims for the week ending December 9th were 225,000 versus the expected 236,000.
Additionally, the loonie was weighed down by weaker crude oil prices as tracked by the WTI, which hit a low of $56.10. The release of the Canada’s New Housing Price Index by Statistics Canada, which missed expectations, also contributed to the loonie’s overall weakness.
The currency pair’s short-term performance is likely to be affected by Stephen Poloz‘s speech scheduled for 17:25 GMT and global oil prices.
The USD/CAD currency pair was trading at 1.2842 as at 15:00 GMT having dropped from a daily high of 1.2866. The CAD/JPY currency pair was trading at 87.69 having declined from a high of 88.05.
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