The Canadian dollar is almost unchanged on Thursday. Currently, the pair is trading at 1.3092, up 0.06% on the day.
Canada ADP nonfarm payrolls slide
The Canada ADP Nonfarm Employment Change report continues to show declines in job creation. The October reading came in at -79.5 thousand, marking a third straight decline. Still, this was considerably better than the September release of -240.8 thousand. The ADP releases, which are derived from actual ADP payroll data, have been much weaker than the official employment releases. Employment Change for October showed a gain of 83.6 thousand, which was down from 378.2 thousand, but still higher than expectations. Investors do not appear concerned about the negative ADP report, as the Canadian dollar has remained steady. We’ll get a clearer picture of the strength of the employment sector in the first week of December.
In the US, today’s releases were soft. Unemployment claims disappointed, rising from 709 thousand to 742 thousand. On the manufacturing front, the Philly Fed Manufacturing Index slowed to 26.3, down from 32.3 beforehand. Still, this figure beat the forecast of 22.0 points.
Canada retail sales next
Canada releases retail sales for September on Friday, and the markets are projecting a downward trend compared to August. The forecast stands at 0.2% for the headline release and 0.0% for Core Retail Sales. The releases could affect the movement of USD/CAD during the North American session on Friday. The Covid-19 pandemic has caused tremendous economic damage, and there are serious concerns that a resurgence of Covid could have a severe impact on the normally robust Christmas shopping season. With the Canadian economy taking tenuous steps in recovery, a disappointing Christmas could spell trouble for the economy and the Canadian dollar.
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USD/CAD Technical
- There is support at 1.3039. Below, there is support at 1.2994
- There is resistance at 1.3123, followed by resistance at 1.3162
- USD/CAD continues to press downwards on the 10-day MA line