By CountingPips.com
A report from Statistics Canada today showed that the Leading Indicators index declined for the ninth straight month in May. The Leading Indicator Index, which measures future economic activity, fell by 0.1 percent in May following a revised decline of 0.9 percent in February. The May decline was the smallest of the last nine months and the 0.8 percent change from April marked the biggest turnaround for a month since December 1965. May’s data, despite the decrease, was better than expected as market forecasts were calling for a 0.6 percent decline.
Contributing heavily to the overall index decline was a decrease in new orders for durable goods which fell by 11.6 percent. Shipments fell by 0.03 percent for the month while furniture & appliance sales declined by 1.0 percent and other durable goods sales slumped by 0.6 percent. On the positive side, the stock market index rose by 3.2 percent, the housing index increased by 1.0 percent and the money supply increased by 0.8 percent.
Also out of Canada today, Statistics Canada reported that wholesale prices fell by 0.6 percent in April following a revised decline of 0.4 percent in March. The data slightly beat forecasts expecting a 0.5 percent decline.
Canadian dollar mostly lower in currency trading.
The Canadian dollar has been mostly lower today in the currency markets against the major currencies. The U.S. dollar is trading virtually unchanged at time of writing against the Canadian loonie as the USD/CAD opened trading today at 1.1313 at 00:00GMT and trades at 1.1307 at 3:04pm EST in the US session according to currency data from Oanda. The USD/CAD reached an intraday high of 1.1449 before retreating lower.
The euro has gained against the loonie as the EUR/CAD trades at the 1.5781 level after opening the day at 1.5683 and reached an intraday high of 1.5861. The loonie has fallen versus the Japanese yen today as the CAD/JPY has edged down to the 84.66 yen per loonie level after opening at 85.41.
The British pound is trading virtually unchanged versus the loonie today as the GBP/CAD trades at 1.8565 level after opening the day at 1.8567.
The Australian dollar is higher against the loonie as the AUD/CAD pair trades at 0.8995 from today’s opening rate of 0.8963 while the New Zealand dollar has also gained against the CAD as the NZD/CAD trades at 0.7179 from 0.7130 earlier today.
EUR/CAD Chart – The EUR/CAD advancing higher today in currency trading and touched its highest exchange rate in roughly a month(4H Chart).
