The Canadian, Australian and New Zealand dollars have been range trading lately.
Yesterday they all recovered against the US dollar and today, they are all lower. This is partially due to the recent volatility in commodity prices and the US dollar. Australian economic data was mixed with manufacturing PMI increasing but building approvals plummeting. Retail sales are due for release this evening. We believe that consumer spending should be strong given the stability of the labor market. There are no economic releases due from New Zealand or Canada but it is interesting to hear BoC Governor Carney say that Canada’s low food inflation is “almost unique” in the world. This tells us that they may not hesitate to lower interest rates again because for the BoC, inflation is not a major concern.