CAD Unchanged After Positive US and Commodities Data

May 16, 2014 Share Print 0

The Canadian dollar was little changed Friday amid a strong reading on U.S. housing starts and mixed commodity prices.

The loonie was off 0.01 of a cent to 91.93 cents US as housing starts for April came in at an annualized pace of 1.072 units, higher than the 980,000 that economists had expected.

Financial markets have been pressured this week by fresh economic worries after data showed the recovery in Europe is more fragile than thought, while retail giant and economic barometer Wal-Mart Stores delivered a disappointing outlook for the second quarter.

Traders will be particularly interested in the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index in light of the Wal-Mart report. Economists expect the index rose to 85 in mid-May, which would be the highest reading since July, from 84.1 in April.

This has also been a remarkable week in the fixed income area where bond yields have fallen sharply amid equity market nervousness.

The benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury was at 2.49 per cent Friday morning, after starting the week at 2.66 per cent and as low as 2.47 per cent on Thursday.

And the rally hasn’t been confined to the U.S.

In Canada, intraday yields on 10-year Government of Canada bonds touched 2.22 per cent Thursday after sitting as high as 2.4 per cent earlier in the week.

via News1130

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.

Bio
Twitter
Google+
Latest Posts

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse

Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.