Canadian dollar drifting ahead of BoC

The Canadian dollar is almost unchanged on Wednesday, trading at 1.3373 in the European session.

BoC expected to hike by 25 bp

The Bank of Canada is expected to raise rates by 25 basis points at today’s meeting, the first of the year, which would bring the cash rate to 4.50%. The BoC has been aggressive, raising rates by some 400 basis points in the current rate-tightening cycle which began in March 2022. At the last meeting, BoC Governor Macklem had said that the BoC would likely pause in January, barring a major change in the data. So what has changed? Inflation levels have fallen in line with BoC projections, but the labour market created a massive 100,000 new jobs in December, crushing the estimate of 7,000. The big question is whether the December jump was a one-time spike or will the solid employment numbers continue. If the labor market remains strong, the BoC may have to continue raising rates. The odds for a 25-bp hike stand at 75%, with a 25% chance of the BoC taking a pause.

BoC policy makers can’t be happy with the slow decline in inflation. The BoC has hiked rates by some 375 basis points since March, but inflation has fallen modestly, from a high of 8.1% in June to 6.3% in December. That is far too high for the BoC’s liking, but with the economy showing signs of weakness, such as GDP and wage growth, future rate moves (or non-moves) will be largely data-dependent.

The US releases GDP for Q4 on Thursday and we could see some volatility from the US dollar. GDP is expected to slow to 2.8%, down from 3.2% in Q3 but still a respectable pace of growth. On Wednesday, US PMIs pointed to a decline in the manufacturing and services sectors, pointing to cracks in the US economy as high rates have dampened economic growth. The US dollar remains under pressure as soft US numbers have raised hopes that the Fed will ease up on rate policy due to the slowing economy.

.

USD/CAD Technical

  • 1.3455 is a weak support line, followed by 1.3328
  • 1.3582 and 1.3707 are the next resistance lines

Content 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 Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.

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.