Investing.com - The U.S. dollar was higher against its Canadian counterpart on Wednesday, depite the release of disappointing U.S. economic reports and after positive wholesale sales data from Canada.
USD/CAD hit 1.2459 during early U.S. trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.2456, advancing 0.53%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2351, the low of February 3 and resistance at 1.2538, the high of February 13.
The Federal Reserve said that U.S. industrial production increased by 0.2% last month, below expectations for a gain of 0.3%. Industrial production for December was revised down to a decline of 0.3% from a previously reported drop of 0.1%.
The report also showed that the capacity utilization rate, a measure of how fully firms are using their resources, held steady at 79.4% in January, compared to expectations for a reading of 79.9%.
Earlier Wednesday, the Commerce Department reported that U.S. producer prices fell by 0.8% last month, compared to forecasts for a 0.4% decline, after falling 0.3% in December.
The core producer price index eased down by 0.1% last month, compared to forecasts for a gain of 0.1% and following an increase of 0.3% in December.
In a separate report, the Commerce Department said that the number of building permits issued last month decreased by 0.7% to1.053 million units from December’s total of 1.060 million. Analysts expected building permits to rise by 0.8% to 1.069 million units in January.
The report also showed that U.S. housing starts declined by 2.0% last month to hit 1.065 million units from December’s total of 1.087 million units, worse than expectations for a decline of 1.7% to 1.070 million.
In Canada, official data showed that wholesale sales rose 2.5% in December, exceeding expectations for a 0.4% gain, after a 0.3% fall the previous month.
The loonie was also lower against the euro, with EUR/CAD rising 0.23% to 1.4174.
Later in the day, the Federal Reserve was to publish the minutes of its January meeting.