Canada posts international trade deficit of C$1.4 billion in May

Canada posted a surprise international trade deficit in May.
USD/CAD trades in the negative territory below 1.2400.

Eren Sengezer FXStreet

Canada posted an international merchandise trade deficit of C$1.4 billion in May, the data published by Statistics Canada revealed on Friday. This reading came in worse than the market expectation for a surplus of C$0.37 billion.

"In May, Canada's merchandise imports increased 2.1%, while exports fell 1.6%," the publication read. "In May, the average value of the Canadian dollar increased 2.4 cents US compared with the average value in April to 82.5 cents US. This was the largest monthly increase since July 2017. When expressed in US dollars, Canadian imports were up 5.2% in May, and exports rose 1.4%."

Market reaction

The USD/CAD pair was last seen losing 0.33% on the day at 1.2392. However, this drop seems to be a product of the renewed USD weakness rather than CAD strength.

Author

Eren Sengezer

FXStreet

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

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