USD/CAD continues scaling higher, hits fresh 18-month tops ahead of US/Canadian macro data

   “¢   Risk-off mood helps the USD to recover a part of the post-FOMC downfall.
   “¢   Bearish crude oil prices continue to undermine Loonie and remained supportive.
   “¢   Traders now eye today’s US/Canadian macroeconomic releases for fresh impetus.

The USD/CAD pair quickly reversed an early European session dip to sub-1.3500 level and climbed to fresh multi-month tops, around the 1.3535 region in the last hour.

The pair continued gaining positive traction for the seventh consecutive session on Friday, with a combination of supporting factors helping extend the well-established near-term bullish trajectory.

An extended selloff across global equity markets underpinned the US Dollar’s relative safe-haven demand and helped recover a part of the post-FOMC steep decline to the lowest level since Nov. 20.  

Adding to this, the prevalent bearish sentiment around oil markets, with WTI crude oil hitting fresh 18-month lows, continued weighed on the commodity-linked Loonie and remained supportive.

With today’s strong up-move, the pair remains on track to end in positive territory for the fifth consecutive week and possibly also record its highest weekly close since early May 2017.

Moving ahead, today’s important macro releases, both from the US and Canada, will now be looked upon for some meaningful trading impetus on the last trading day of the week.  

The US economic docket features the release of final Q3 GDP growth figures and durable goods orders, while from Canada the monthly GDP print and retails sales data will influence sentiment surrounding the Canadian Dollar.

Technical levels to watch