USD/CAD Nearly Touches Before 1.01 March U.S. Jobs Reports

The Canadian dollar strengthened to a six-week high versus its U.S. counterpart before employment data tomorrow forecast to show job gains last month in the U.S. and Canada.

The currency rallied to the strongest since 2008 against the yen after Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda took measures that would devalue the currency in his fight against deflation. Canada created 6,500 jobs in March from 50,700 the previous month, while the U.S. added 190,000 from 236,000 the month before, according to separate Bloomberg surveys of economists. U.S. weekly jobless claims exceeded forecasts last week, fueling speculation the government figures may trail projections as well.

“We see a little bit of further weakness in some oil prices and gold, a little bit of further weakness in Toronto equities and the currency has actually strengthened a little bit,” said Doug Porter, chief economist at Bank of Montreal by phone from Toronto. “We’ve had the trauma in Cyprus and we have the Bank of Japan trying to actively weaken the yen, and in a world such as that, the Canadian dollar looks like a relatively safe harbor.”

Bloomberg

This article is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Corporation or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. Leveraged trading is high risk and not suitable for all. You could lose all of your deposited funds.