The USD yesterday weakened
across the board following soft US Jobless Claims and ISM Services PMI reports. Overall, the data didn’t
change much in terms of interest rates expectations, but it reinforced the view
that the Fed is going to deliver at least two rate cuts by the end of the year.

The CAD, on the other hand,
has been under pressure mainly due to the US Dollar strength last week which
has been influenced more by quarter-end flows rather than something
fundamental. This week, the US Dollar is back on the defensive as the market
continues to trade the soft-landing narrative.

Last week, the Canadian CPI surprised to the upside, with the
underlying inflation measures rising
but remaining within the 1-3% target band. This made the market to pare back rate cuts
expectations with the probabilities now standing around 57% for no change. We
will get another inflation report before the next BoC policy decision, but if
we see another jump in wage growth tomorrow, then the central bank will likely
need very good CPI figures to deliver a rate cut in July.

USDCAD
Technical Analysis – Daily Timeframe

On the daily chart, we can
see that USDCAD is now back at the key 1.36 support zone. Again, we can expect the buyers to step
in with a defined risk below the support to position for a rally back into the
1.3785 resistance. The sellers, on the other hand, will want to see the price
breaking lower to pile in more aggressively and target a drop into the 1.34
handle next.

USDCAD Technical
Analysis – 4 hour Timeframe

On the 4 hour chart, we can
see that the price action remains rangebound between the 1.36 support and the
1.3785 resistance. There’s not much to do here and the market participants will
likely keep on “playing the range” until we get a breakout.

USDCAD Technical
Analysis – 1 hour Timeframe

On the 1 hour chart, we can
see that we have a downward minor trendline defining the current bearish
momentum. The buyers will want to see the price breaking higher and rally above
the 1.3643 level to increase the bullish bets into the 1.3785 resistance.

The sellers, on the other
hand, will likely lean on the trendline to position for a downside breakout
with a defined risk above the 1.3642 level. The red lines define the average daily range for today.

Upcoming
Catalysts

Tomorrow we conclude the week with the US NFP and the Canadian labour market
report.

This article was written by Giuseppe Dellamotta at www.forexlive.com.