- The USD/CAD pair is swinging between slight gains and slight losses during the Asian session on Monday.
- Friday’s unimpressive Canadian jobs report weighs on the Canadian dollar and provides support to the pair.
- Middle East tensions are helping oil prices, supporting the Canadian dollar and limiting spot price gains.
The USD/CAD pair is extending its consolidation on the first day of the new week and is being affected by a mix of divergent forces. Spot prices are currently trading with a slight positive bias around the 1.3735 area, although they are still within the range of the multi-week lows touched on Friday.
Mixed Canadian employment data released on Friday appears to be weighing on the local currency, which, coupled with a modest rise in the US dollar (USD), is acting as a tailwind for the USD/CAD pair. Statistics Canada reported that the number of people in employment fell by 2.8k in July, while the unemployment rate remained steady at 6.4% and average hourly earnings rose 5.2% from a year ago. However, the data reaffirmed market bets on another 25bp rate cut by the Bank of Canada (BoC) in September, weakening the Canadian dollar (CAD).
On the other hand, the US dollar (USD) is attracting some safe-haven flows amid rising geopolitical tensions and is proving to be another factor providing support to the USD/CAD pair. However, bets on deeper rate cuts by the Federal Reserve (Fed) are keeping USD bulls from opening aggressive bets. Added to this is the risk of supply disruptions from the Middle East – amid the risk of a wider conflict in the region – which is helping crude oil prices hold near one-week highs, providing support to the commodity-linked Canadian dollar and limiting the pair.
With no relevant market-moving economic releases on Monday, either from the US or Canada, the above fundamental backdrop calls for some caution before positioning for any significant gains. Traders also seem hesitant and prefer to wait for the US inflation numbers this week – Producer Price Index (PPI) and Consumer Price Index (CPI) on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.
US dollar price today
The table below shows the percentage change in the US Dollar (USD) against major currencies today. The US Dollar was the strongest currency against the Japanese Yen.
| US Dollar | euro | GBP | JPY | Canadian | Australian Dollar | New Zealand Dollar | Swiss Franc | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Dollar | 0.00% | 0.03% | 0.21% | -0.00% | -0.15% | -0.14% | 0.05% | |
| euro | -0.01% | 0.05% | 0.19% | -0.01% | -0.28% | -0.14% | 0.06% | |
| GBP | -0.03% | -0.05% | 0.39% | -0.06% | -0.32% | -0.20% | 0.02% | |
| JPY | -0.21% | -0.19% | -0.39% | -0.20% | -0.42% | -0.35% | -0.18% | |
| Canadian | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.06% | 0.20% | -0.20% | -0.13% | 0.08% | |
| Australian Dollar | 0.15% | 0.28% | 0.32% | 0.42% | 0.20% | 0.13% | 0.34% | |
| New Zealand Dollar | 0.14% | 0.14% | 0.20% | 0.35% | 0.13% | -0.13% | 0.21% | |
| Swiss Franc | -0.05% | -0.06% | -0.02% | 0.18% | -0.08% | -0.34% | -0.21% |
The heat map shows the percentage changes in the major currencies. The base currency is selected from the left column, while the quote currency is selected from the top row. For example, if you select the US dollar from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the Japanese yen, the percentage change shown in the box will be USD (base)/JPY (quote).
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