The performance of the commodity currencies were mixed with the Canadian and New Zealand dollars giving back their recent gains while the Australian dollar gained strength for the sixth consecutive trading day.
Retail sales in Canada grew by 0.6 percent in April, which is the fifth monthly increase in consumer spending in the past seven months. Part of the rise was driven by gasoline receipts, but consumers also spent more on clothing and general merchandise. However the knee jerk rally in the Canadian dollar was quickly erased on fears that Canada’s Supreme Court would reject the privatization of BCE Inc, Canada’s largest phone company. This was eventually approved but not until the end of the US trading session. In the week ahead, New Zealand is the only commodity producing country with any meaningful economic data, which means that the NZD/USD is in play; the current account balance, GDP and the trade balance are due for release.