Canada’s economy stalled in February, better than a slide of 0.1% expected. However, this came on the back of a downwards revision for January: a slide of 0.2% instead of 0.1% initially reported. Year over year, growth stands at 1.9%.
USD/CAD is ticking lower and challenging the 1.20 battle line. Update: after the dust begins settling, USD/CAD is rising once again, due to good US data. The greenback has the upper hand for now.
As with the small change, the various components of the report are mixed. The general picture remains of moderate growth.
Canada was expected to report a squeeze of 0.1% in the economy for the month of February following the same figure in January.
USD/CAD was trading around 1.2040 towards the publication.
USD/CAD lost 1.20 on the terrible US GDP report, but bounced back thanks to the relatively calm message from the Fed. The US released quite a few figures at the exact same time.
The Canadian dollar had a nice run of late, with USD/CAD slipping under 1.20 for a short while. The C$ enjoyed gradually rising oil prices as well as previously heard optimism from the central bank, despite an acknowledgement that Q1 was “brutalâ€.
More:
- USD/CAD: Make Or Break?– SocGen
- USD/CAD: Sharp Hammer; EUR/USD: Getting Very Tricky – Goldman Sachs
