USD/CAD – Canadian dollar listless as investors look for cues

USD/CAD is unchanged in the Monday session. In the North American session, the pair is trading at 1.3280, up 0.02% on the day. On the release front, there are no Canadian or U.S. events. On Tuesday, the U.S. releases JOLTS Jobs Openings and Federal Reserve Chair Powell speaks at an event in Washington.

Canada’s labor market ended the week with an exclamation mark, as the economy created 66.8 thousand jobs in January, crushing the estimate of 6.5 thousand. It was the second banner reading in three months. Still, the Bank of Canada is not expected to raise rates at its next meeting on March 6. Weak oil prices are weighing on inflation, and the Canadian dollar is down 1.1 percent in February. The BoC appears to have taken a page out of the Federal Reserve’s playbook and is expected to ease monetary policy this year after aggressively raising rates in 2018. Last week, BoC Deputy Governor Tim Lane said that Canada’s fundamentals were strong and unemployment was at historically-low rates. However, Lane noted that the Canadian dollar was under pressure due to lower oil prices, a soft housing market and a decline in business investment due to uncertainty over U.S. trade policies.

Investors remain apprehensive over the U.S-China trade war. Although the sides are talking, markets slipped after President Trump that he would not hold a meeting with President Xi prior to the March 2 deadline, when the U.S. is set to impose further tariffs if the sides fail to reach a deal. A third round of negotiations starts this week, with Treasury Secretary Mnuchin joining the talks later in the week. Still, with no signs of progress, there is growing alarm that the sides will not be able to reach a deal by March 2.

USD/CAD Fundamentals

Monday (February 11)

  • 11:15 FOMC Member Bowman Speaks

Tuesday (February 12)

  • 10:00 US JOLTS Job Openings
  • 12:45 Fed Chair Powell Speaks

*All release times are EST

*Key events are in bold

USD/CAD for Monday, February 11, 2019

USD/CAD, February 11 at 8:45 EST

Open: 1.3277 High: 1.3297 Low: 1.3264 Close: 1.3280

USD/CAD Technical

S3 S2 S1 R1 R2 R3
1.3049 1.3125 1.3200 1.3290 1.3383 1.3445

USD/CAD posted small gains in the Asian session and was steady in European trade.

  • 1.3200 is providing support
  • 1.3290 was tested in resistance earlier. It remains a weak line
  • Current range: 1.3200 to 1.3290

Further levels in both directions:

  • Below: 1.3200, 1.3125 and 1.3049
  • Above: 1.3290, 1.3383, 1.3445 and 1.3547

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.

Kenny Fisher

Kenny Fisher

Market Analyst at OANDA
A highly experienced financial market analyst with a focus on fundamental analysis, Kenneth Fisher’s daily commentary covers a broad range of markets including forex, equities and commodities. His work has been published in several major online financial publications including Investing.com, Seeking Alpha and FXStreet. Based in Israel, Kenny has been a MarketPulse contributor since 2012.