Canadian inflation on the menu today
Markets are in somewhat of a lull this morning, as observers continue to digest the most recent comments from the Fed. European stocks are in positive territory, crude oil is up slightly and the greenback is a tad weaker against its peers on the whole. Meanwhile the loonie is down more than 4% since the beginning of May despite a 10% increase in oil prices over the same period.
Naturally, our dollar’s performance is in no small part related to the tragic wildfires raging in northern Alberta and the resulting interruption in oil output. Rating agency S&P downgraded the energy-dependent province’s credit again yesterday from AA+ to AA-. It will be interesting to hear what the Bank of Canada has to say about our economy next Wednesday, as well as how oil will behave once western Canadian facilities come back online with their production. While Canadian output has been absent, Iraq has very kindly filled the void.
Before we kick off the long weekend, Statistics Canada will be serving up Retail Sales data for March and the Inflation reading for April at 8:30 this morning. Depending on where these key indicators come in, they could potentially add pressure to the loonie. Have a great May Long Weekend and don’t forget the sunscreen!
