Currencies “on hold”
Yesterday was an unusual trading session for the USD/CAD pair. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil lost 3% on the release of weekly EIA inventories and the USD/CAD rate ended the day back where it had started! Existing Home Sales in the U.S. fell 3.2%, which may have weighed down the U.S. dollar, although it appears that markets are by and large in a holding pattern as they await Friday’s speech by Fed Chair Janet Yellen.
It is interesting to note that the U.S. S&P 500 Index showed some signs of weakness yesterday late in the day for the first time in a long while. A potential dip below 2,168 points would be a signal that the slide was continuing, bringing (logically at least) the Canadian dollar down with it. A number of indicators of note will be released today in the United States, including Durable Goods Orders and Weekly Jobless Claims.
These interludes of relative calm are ideal to go over your currency, commodity and interest rate risk management policies and contact your partners at National Bank to talk about them.
