USD/CAD eases post-US/Canadian data, still comfortable above 1.40 ahead of OPEC+ meeting

• USD/CAD edges lower after yet another disastrous US weekly jobless claims data.
• Awful Canadian monthly jobs report undermined the loonie and helped limit losses.
• Investors seemed reluctant to place aggressive bets ahead of the key OPEC+ meeting.

The USD/CAD pair retreated around 50 pips and dropped to the lower end of its daily trading range post-US/Canadian data, albeit lacked follow-through.

The pair met with some fresh supply during the early North-American session after the US initial weekly jobless claims unexpectedly rose to 6.61 million during the week that ended on April 3, worse than 5.25 million expected.

Adding to the disappointment, the previous week’s reading was also revised higher to 6.87 million from 6.65 million and kept the US dollar bulls on the defensive, albeit awful Canadian monthly jobs data helped limit the downside.

The Canadian economy lost 1.01 million jobs in March and the unemployment rate spiked to 7.8%. The data negated the effect of a strong rally in crude oil prices and undermined the commodity-linked currency – the loonie.

Barring a minor initial reaction, the pair lacked any follow-through as investors refrained from placing any aggressive bets, rather preferred to wait for headlines from the highly-anticipated OPEC+ meeting on oil output cuts.

In the meantime, the Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s scheduled speech, which coupled with fresh developments surrounding the coronavirus saga might influence the USD price dynamics and produce some meaningful trading opportunities.

Technical levels to watch