USD/CAD Outlook with Canadian Jobs Data in the Horizon

Summary:

USD/CAD is on a consolidation pattern ahead of the Canadian employment data later in the day. It will also be reacting to the Fed monetary policy report.

USD/CAD is on a consolidation pattern ahead of the Canadian employment data. Analysts expect 195,000 additional people to have been employed in June after the recorded decline of 68,000 in May.

In the past two releases, Statistics Canada has indicated a decline in the number of employed people. Notably, a higher-than-expected reading will boost the Canadian dollar while acting as a bearish catalyst for USD/CAD.

The currency pair will also be reacting to the Fed monetary policy report. On Wednesday, the FOMC meeting minutes came in rather dovish despite the hawkish surprise in Fed’s June meeting.

USDCAD technical outlook

USD/CAD is on a consolidation pattern ahead of the Canadian jobs data. On Thursday, it erased some of its previous gains as a reaction to the better-than-expected oil inventory data from the EIA.

It is trading sideways along the support level of 1.2517 after hitting a 7-week intraday high of 1.2591 on Thursday. At the time of writing, it was up by 0.02% at 1.2536. On a two-hour chart, it is above the 25 and 50-day exponential moving averages.

I expect USD/CAD to continue finding support at 1.2517 in the near term. Depending on the outcome of the Canadian job data, the bear may manage to push the prices lower.

If they gain enough downward momentum to move the pair past the psychological level of 1.2500, the next target will be at 1.2450. On the flip side, a move past the current resistance level at 1.2558 will pave the way to 1.2600.