USD/CAD – Canadian Dollar Firm Ahead Of US Employment Data

USD/CAD is steady in Tuesday trade, as the pair trades at the 1.09 line early in the North American session. In the US, the NFIB Small Business Index continued to improve and beat the estimate. Today’s highlight is an important employment release, JOLTS Job Openings. There are no releases out of Canada on Tuesday.

Canadian numbers kicked off the new trading week on the right foot, as Housing Sales hit 198 thousand in May, easily beating the estimate of 185 thousand. This points to strong activity in the Canadian housing sector, a critical component of economic growth. Last week’s key events were major disappointments, as Building Permits and Ivey PMI both fell way short of expectations.

In the US, employment numbers were solid late last week. Unemployment Claims and Nonfarm Employment Change, both key indicators, met market expectations. Unemployment Claims came in at 312 thousand, slightly above the estimate of 309 thousand. Nonfarm Employment Change met modest expectations on Friday, adding 217 thousand new jobs. The estimate stood at 214 thousand. The Unemployment Rate stayed pegged at 6.3%, beating the estimate of 6.4%. Solid employment numbers add to the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will continue to trim its QE program, which it plans to wind up by the end of 2014.

USD/CAD for Tuesday, June 10, 2014

USD/CAD June 10 at 13:30 GMT

USD/CAD 1.0908 H: 1.0919 L: 1.0891

USD/CAD Technical

• The round number of 1.1000 is providing resistance. This is followed by resistance at 1.1094.
• The pair is testing support at 1.0906. The next support line is at 1.0852.
• Current range: 1.0906 to 1.1000

Further levels in both directions:

• Below: 1.0906, 1.0852, 1.0775, 1.0706 and 1.0678
• Above: 1.10, 1.1094, 1.1177 and 1.1278

OANDA’s Open Positions Ratio

USD/CAD ratio is pointing to gains in long positions on Tuesday. This is not consistent with the pair’s movement, as the Canadian dollar is showing little change. The pair has a slight majority of long positions, indicative of trader bias towards the US dollar posting gains.

The Canadian dollar is listless on Tuesday. The pair is unchanged in the North American session.

USD/CAD Fundamentals

• 11:30 US NFIB Small Business Index. Estimate 96.1 points. Actual 96.6 points.
• 14:00 US JOLTS Job Openings. Estimate 4.04M.
• 14:00 US Wholesale Inventories. Estimate 0.6%.

*Key releases are highlighted in bold

*All release times are GMT

This article is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Corporation or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. Leveraged trading is high risk and not suitable for all. You could lose all of your deposited funds.