Macro Releases: USD/CAD, GBP/USD

Dukascopy Bank Team Dukascopy Bank SA

USD/CAD: Canadian Overnight Rate

The US Dollar appreciated against the Canadian Dollar, following the Canadian Overnight Rate data release on Wednesday at 14:00 GMT. The USD/CAD exchange currency rate gained 28 pips or 0.21% right after the release. The Greenback continued trading at 1.3130 the level against the Canadian Dollar.

Bank of Canada released the Canadian Overnight Rate data , which came out in line with the expectations of 1.75%. Note, that BOC Monetary Policy Report and Rate statement were released at the same time.

According to the official release: "Policy is responding to the slowdown: central banks in the US and Europe have signaled their readiness to provide more accommodative monetary policy and further policy stimulus has been implemented in China. In this context, global financial conditions have eased substantially. The Bank now expects global GDP to grow by 3 percent in 2019 and to strengthen to around 3 ¼ percent in 2020 and 2021, with the US slowing to a pace near its potential. Escalation of trade conflicts remains the biggest downside risk to the global and Canadian outlooks."

GBP/USD: UK GDP and Manufacturing Production

The British Pound traded sideways against the US Dollar, following the GBP data release on Wednesday at 08:30 GMT. The GBP/USD exchange currency rate gained 5 pips or 0.04% right after the release. The British Pound continued trading at the 1.1.2475 level against the Greenback.

The Office for National Statistics released the UK GDP data , which came out in line with the expectations of 0.3%. Note, that the UK Manufacturing Production data was released at the same time. The data came out worse-than-expected of 1.4% compared with the forecast of 2.2%.

According to the head of GDP Rob Kent-Smith: "GDP grew moderately in the latest three months, with IT, communications and retail showing strength. Despite this, there has been a longer-term slowdown in the often-dominant services sector since summer 2018. The economy returned to growth in the month of May, following the fall seen in April. This was mainly due to the partial recovery in car production."

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