The Canadian dollar is lower on Friday, as USD/CAD trades in the mid-1.10 range. It's been an awful week for the Canadian currency, which has shed close to 200 points against the surging US dollar. Taking a look at Friday's fundamental events, In the US, it's a busy day with the release of three major events - Retail Sales, Core Retail Sales and UoM Consumer Sentiment. There are no Canadian releases on Friday.
US employment data disappointed on Thursday, as concerns increase regarding the health of the US job market. Unemployment Claims rose to 315 thousand, the largest number of claims in 10 weeks. The reading was much higher than the estimate of 306 thousand. This follows soft numbers from JOLTS Job Openings and a dismal Nonfarm Payrolls last week. The troubling job numbers are unlikely to affect the Fed's plan to continue trimming QE next week, but a weak labor market could postpone plans to raise interest rates by mid-2015.
Canada continues to suffer from weak inflation levels, which point to an underperforming economy. This was underscored by a weak reading from the New Housing Price Index, which dipped to 0.0%, the first time the indicator has failed to post a gain in 2014. Earlier in the week, housing data was a mix as Building Permits shot higher, but Housing Starts slipped to a five-month low.
USD/CAD 1.1040 H: 1.1072 L: 1.1032
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