USDCAD forex technical analysis 20 March 2015
The main reason for the drop in retail sales was gasoline sales posting the biggest drop since Nov 2008. It looks like the data has trumped the inflation numbers.
Inflation rising on the month and holding up y/y is also good news for the BOC but bad news for anyone expecting further rate cuts. The core number dropped a pip but is still well up compared to a lot of other countries.
It was a surprise to me that they cut rates when they did following nearly a year of the core number going up. If inflation does start to come back into the Canadian economy then they may look to reverse that cut pretty sharpish. Retail sales could be the bigger issue as it's showing a marked slowdown in spending.
Meanwhile the loonie remains in its consolidation range between 1.2800/35 and 1.2345/50
USD/CAD daily chart
We've got a similar picture to USD/JPY here where we're seeing a fairly decent defined range. As with dollar yen it looks safe to trade in between and watching any breaks of the edges carefully
