Canadian dollar dips as retail sales fall

The Canadian dollar is in negative territory on Wednesday after a five-day winning streak in which it gained 1.1%. In the North American session, USD/CAD is trading at 1.3703, up 0.29%.

Canada’s retail sales down in February

Canadian consumers are holding tight on the purse strings as spending has been weak in the first quarter. In February, retail sales contracted by 0.1%, after a 0.3% decline in January and shy of the market estimate of 0.1%. The preliminary reading for March retail sales came in at unchanged. On an annualized basis, retail sales rose 1.2% in February, up from the revised 0.2% gain in January.

The weak retail sales numbers point to an economy that is struggling and adds pressure on the Bank of Canada to cut rates in order to relieve the burden on consumers and businesses. The markets have priced in a quarter-point cut in June cut at 50% while a July cut is fully priced in.

The cautious BOC has held the cash rate at 5% for six straight times and is in no rush to lower rates until it is convinced that inflation has been beaten. The BoC will have additional data to pore over in the weeks ahead of the next meeting in June and the strength of those numbers will be critical in the BoC’s rate decision at the next meeting on June 5.

A rate hike from the Federal Reserve? That sounds almost unthinkable, but the options markets have priced in a 20% probability of a rate hike in the next 12 months. Just a few months ago there was talk of up to six rate cuts this year, but a hot US economy and rising inflation have kept rate cuts in the freezer. If inflation continues to climb, the voices for raising rates are bound to get louder.

USD/CAD Technical

  • USD/CAD is testing resistance at 1.3701. Above, there is resistance at 1.3773
  • 1.3651 and 1.3579 are providing support

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 and macroeconomic analysis, Kenny Fisher’s daily commentary covers a broad range of markets including forex, equities and commodities. His work has been published in major online financial publications including Investing.com, Seeking Alpha and FXStreet. Kenny has been a MarketPulse contributor since 2012.