“Greenback’s got nothing on you Loonie,” sang traders yesterday as the com-doll pared most of the pips it lost on Monday against its counterpart. After hitting an intraday high of 1.0184, USD/CAD went on a downtrend and ended the day 31 pips lower at 1.0107, just a few pips above the week open price.
Without any economic reports to tune in to, both bulls and bears were all ears for Finance Minister Flaherty’s speech yesterday. Lucky for the Loonie, the market found the official’s remarks positive enough when he said that Canada is in no need of stimulus. Boo yeah!
However, Flaherty also expressed concern for Canada’s economic growth. Yikes! He said that he and his homies will keep a close eye on how the economy behaves. So I think would be wise for us to do the same, starting with the house price index for August which is due later at 12:30 pm GMT.
The market is bracing for a second month of decline in house prices with the forecast still down at -0.1%. If you plan on betting your pips on the Loonie, you may want to keep your fingers crossed for the actual figure to come in higher than the consensus, as this would imply that Canada’s housing industry is A-okay!