Friday, 12 Mar 2010

CAD Trading More Stable than Counterparts

Heading into the start of the American market hours, the Canadian Dollar appears to be turning downward against most currency pairs, except the USD and JPY. A boost to riskier assets has the EUR, GBP, CHF, and AUD all climbing rapidly against the safe-haven Dollar and Yen. But the CAD presents market data which seems relatively clearer than the others.

The rapid rise of the European and Pacific currencies against the greenback can be explained by the expected drop in American retail sales. Yet, the CAD's steady employment data, due to be released momentarily, as well as yesterday's better-than-expected trade surplus merely helps the Loonie continue its recent uptrend. This means the CAD's performance is more stable than that of its European counterparts.

Should Canada's employment figures, expected at 12:00 GMT, come out as forecast, there doesn't seem to be much reason why this uptrend against the USD and JPY shouldn't continue. But how well the Loonie performs against its European counterparts will depend largely on the outcome of America's retail sales data and the corresponding price behavior thereafter.