USD/CAD advances to fresh 19-month high, trades near 1.3650

After spending the majority of the day near the 1.36 handle, the USD/CAD pair gathered strength during the NA trading hours and advanced to its highest level in more than 19 months at 1.3660. As of writing, the pair was up 80 pips, or 0.6%, on the day at 1.3655.

Yet another sharp fall seen in crude oil prices seems to be the primary driver of the pair's recent upsurge. Following a decisive recovery, which allowed it to close the day more than 3% higher, the barrel of West Texas Intermediate suffered heavy losses on Thursday. Ahead of the weekly API data from the U.S., the WTI was trading below the $45 mark, losing 3.6% on a daily basis. Additionally, the negative market sentiment as reflected by the drop witnessed in major equity indexes weigh on the risk-sensitive currencies such as the loonie.

On the other hand, the US Dollar Index stays in the negative territory amid falling T-bond yields and limit the pair's gains for the time being. At the moment, the DXY is down 0.4% on the day at 96.63.

There won't be any macroeconomic data releases from Canada in the remainder of the week. On Friday, goods trade balance, new home sales/pending home sales, and Chicago PMI will be released from the United States. However, investors are likely to ignore the data and stay focused on oil prices.

Technical levels to consider