The Canadian economy had an excellent first quarter. The economy grew by 0.5% m/m in March, concluding a robust quarter. Expectations stood at a modest 0.2% after February saw no change in the output of the Canadian economy.
USD/CAD slipped to a new low of 1.3433.Update: after the initial fall, the pair bounced back and remains around levels seen earlier in the day, at 1.3450.
The Canadian dollar was moving on oil prices in the past week, following the OPEC meeting. Before the decision on further oil production cuts, the loonie enjoyed some tailwind from the Bank of Canada. The BOC was relatively upbeat on growth.
And now we know that growth looks good. In the first quarter, the economy grew by an annualized level of 3.7%. The US grew by only 1.2% according to the revised data.Q4 2016 growth was 2.7% according to the latest revision.
More: CAD: A Couple Of Major Positives – Where To Target? – SocGen
Here is how it looks on the 30-minute chart: