USD/CAD weakens on Thursday, trading around 1.4100 at the time of writing, down 0.1% on the day after hitting a seven-month peak at 1.4140 in the previous day. The pullback ends a five-day winning streak as recovering Oil prices lend support to the Canadian Dollar (CAD), which remains closely linked to commodity trends.
The rebound in Crude Oil comes amid ongoing supply concerns, strengthening the purchasing power of the Canadian Dollar. As Canada is the largest Oil exporter to the United States, higher Oil prices typically support the Loonie.
On the macroeconomic front, investors are awaiting the release of the Canadian October Ivey Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) and the speech from Bank of Canada (BoC) Governor Tiff Macklem later in the day. The BoC cut its key policy rate by 25 basis points to 2.25% last week, while stressing that it remained ready to adjust policy further should Canada’s economic outlook deteriorate.
In the United States (US), private-sector employment data exceeded expectations. The ADP report showed a gain of 42,000 jobs in October, compared with a 29,000 decrease in the previous month and well above forecasts of 25,000. The figures confirm the resilience of the labor market, although expectations for a Federal Reserve (Fed) rate cut in December have eased somewhat.
According to the CME FedWatch tool, the chance of a December rate cut now stands near 62%, down from over 90% a week earlier. This adjustment helps keep the US Dollar (USD) supported despite modest profit-taking.
Overall, the short-term direction of USD/CAD will depend on Tiff Macklem’s comments and market reaction to Canada’s private-sector data.
The table below shows the percentage change of Canadian Dollar (CAD) against listed major currencies today. Canadian Dollar was the strongest against the US Dollar.
| USD | EUR | GBP | JPY | CAD | AUD | NZD | CHF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USD | -0.30% | -0.18% | -0.31% | -0.11% | -0.13% | 0.00% | -0.23% | |
| EUR | 0.30% | 0.13% | 0.00% | 0.19% | 0.18% | 0.30% | 0.07% | |
| GBP | 0.18% | -0.13% | -0.16% | 0.07% | 0.05% | 0.18% | -0.06% | |
| JPY | 0.31% | 0.00% | 0.16% | 0.21% | 0.18% | 0.29% | 0.08% | |
| CAD | 0.11% | -0.19% | -0.07% | -0.21% | -0.01% | 0.09% | -0.13% | |
| AUD | 0.13% | -0.18% | -0.05% | -0.18% | 0.01% | 0.13% | -0.10% | |
| NZD | 0.00% | -0.30% | -0.18% | -0.29% | -0.09% | -0.13% | -0.24% | |
| CHF | 0.23% | -0.07% | 0.06% | -0.08% | 0.13% | 0.10% | 0.24% |
The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the Canadian Dollar from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the US Dollar, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent CAD (base)/USD (quote).