- US Dollar Index extends weekly gains toward 98.
- Crude oil gains traction on Friday, WTI rises beyond $56.
- US Bureau of Economic Analysis to publish first estimate of Q2 GDP growth.
After closing every day of this week in the positive territory, the USD/CAD pair extended its rally on Friday and reached its highest level in a month at 1.3186. As of writing, the pair was trading a couple of pips below that level, adding 0.17% on a daily basis.
The broad USD strength continues to dominate the pair’s price action. Following yesterday’s upbeat macroeconomic data releases from the US, which showed that durable goods orders in June expanded by 2% to beat the market expectation of 0.7%, the US Dollar Index erased the losses it suffered amid the sharp upsurge seen in the EUR/USD pair and closed the day in the positive territory.
Eyes on US GDP data
Ahead of the US Bureau of Economic Analysis’ first estimate of the second-quarter GDP growth figures, the DXY is at its highest level since late May at 97.83.
Previewing the GDP data and its potential impact on the Fed’s policy outlook, “A poor GDP release could again spur some market participants to increase their expectations of a 50bp cut, but a large majority expects the FOMC to deliver a regular 25bp rate reduction, us included,” Rabobank analysts argued. “Risks of a follow-up cut later in the year remain elevated, though.”
Meanwhile, the barrel of West Texas Intermediate is adding more than 1% on the day near $56.50, helping the commodity-related Loonie limit its losses against its American counterpart for the time being.
Technical levels to watch for
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