Solid News

After yesterday's attempt to grow against the backdrop of the publication of US macroeconomic statistics, today, the USD/CAD pair shows multidirectional dynamics, consolidating near 1.3380.

January sales rose 3.0% after declining 1.1% last month, although analysts had expected a 1.8% gain, while industrial production remained flat after falling 1.0% in December versus forecast about an increase of 0.5%. The percentage of production capacity utilization slightly corrected from 78.4% to 78.3% against the forecast of an increase to 79.0%.

Canadian data was poor: the volume of construction of houses started in January decreased from 248.3K to 215.4K, worse than analysts' expectations of 240.0K. Wholesale sales in December decreased by 0.8% after falling by 0.7% last month (revised from a rise of 0.5%), although experts had expected a more significant fall of 1.7%. Manufacturing sales for the same period were corrected by –1.5% from –0.2% in November, compared with the –1.8% forecast.

On the daily chart, Bollinger bands are moving in a flat: the price range is narrowing, reflecting the emergence of ambiguous trading dynamics in the short term. The MACD indicator is growing, keeping a poor buy signal (the histogram is above the signal line). Stochastic shows more confident growth, located approximately in the center of its working area, which indicates the prospects for the development of upward dynamics in the nearest time intervals.

Resistance levels: 1.3400, 1.3450, 1.3500, 1.3550. | Support levels: 1.3350, 1.3300, 1.3226, 1.3150.