The Canadian dollar today rallied against its US counterpart triggered by the disappointing US non-farm payroll data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The positive Canadian labor productivity data and the trade deficit figures released by Statistics Canada boosted the Loonie against the greenback.
The currency pair lose over 60 points at the height of its decline although it retraced some of its loses severally before continuing on a downward trend.
The Canadian dollar was stronger against the US dollar boosted by the release of positive international merchandise trade balance data, which indicated that Canada’s trade deficit had declined to $0.37 billion during the month of April. Canada’s labor productivity also increased by 1.4% on a quarterly basis over the first quarter of 2017. The slight recovery in global crude oil prices as reflected in prices of the West Texas Intermediate, which was trading at over $47.85 at the time of writing, also boosted the loonie.
The release of the US non-farm payroll data, which was recorded at a disappointing 138,000 as compared to the market consensus of 182,000, increased the downward pressure on the greenback. The US also recorded a trade deficit of $47.6 billion as released by the Census Bureau versus the expected $46.1 billion in April.
The currency pair’s future performance is likely to be influenced by the release of the US ISM Services/Non-Manufacturing for May on Monday. Political events in the US may also influence the pair’s future direction.
The USD/CAD was trading at 1.3488 as at 17:29 GMT having dropped from a high of 1.3546 earlier today. The CAD/JPY was trading at 81.91 having recovered from a low of 81.60.
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