The USD/CAD lifted in early Thursday trading, clipping into 1.3520 before seeing a clean rejection, and is now trading down into 1.3475 as the Greenback (USD) takes a breather and the Loonie (CAD) finds support from bouncing crude oil prices. The oil-based Loonie is finding some minor support from crude prices heading into the end of the week, rebounding after the USD caught a firm bid across the board after Thursday’s Federal Reserve (Fed) rate call. The Fed stood still on interest rates, but a rising rate outlook firmed up the chances of another rate hike before the end of the year. On the economic calendar, Friday comes in with CAD Retail Sales and US Purchasing Manager Index (PMI) figures.
Canadian retail sales from July are forecast to see confirmed month-over-month growth of 0.4%, an uptick from the previous period’s 0.1%. On the US side, PMIs are expected to improve slightly, with the manufacturing component forecast to lift from 47.9 to 48.0, and the services side moving from 50.5 to 50.6. The USD/CAD has been catching bids ever since the Fed release yesterday, taking the pair up nearly a full percent bottom-to-top, before running aground on the 200-hour Simple Moving Average (SMA) near 1.3520. The pair is now set to fall further, declining past the 100-hour SMA and looking at the top side of the descending intraday trendline, marked in from 1.3580. On the daily candlesticks, the USD/CAD is looking for a rebound from the 34-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) near 1.3400, and is getting hung up on the 200-day SMA close to the current price action.
