By CountingPips.com
The U.S. dollar has gained back some ground today versus the Canadian “loonie” dollar after falling to parity this week for the first time since July of 2008. The USD/CAD pair fell to equal footing in yesterday’s trading and again earlier today before buying support lifted the pair to its highest level in two days. The USD/CAD has gained approximately 45
Economic news released today out of Canada showed that building permits fell by more than expected in February. Permits declined by 0.5 percent in February following a 4.7 percent revised decrease in January. Market forecasts were expecting a 2.0 percent increase for the month. Despite the monthly decrease, the annual permits level was 56.7 percent higher than the February 2009 level during the financial crisis.
Elsewhere, the U.S. dollar has been mixed in forex trading against the other major currencies. The dollar has gained versus the euro, British pound and Swiss franc while falling against the Japanese yen, New Zealand dollar and the Australian dollar.
The US stock markets, meanwhile, took a break in their recent rally with a losing session today as the Dow Jones fell by approximately 72 points, the Nasdaq decreased approximately 6 points and the S&P 500 slid by over 6 points. Oil traded lower to $85.88 while gold gained $17.20 to level at $1,152.30 per ounce.
USD/CAD 1-hour Chart – The US Dollar breaking out of its steady downtrend to the Canadian Dollar in forex trading today. This recent downward price channel started from the March 26th high and culminated in the USD/CAD falling to 0.9978 on April 6th to mark its lowest level in 20 months. The MACD indicator turned positive for the first time since March 29th while the Relative Strength Index topped out at a 67 reading today. Current price action is taking place near the 23.6 fibonacci retracement level on the down move from 1.0302 (March 26th) to yesterday’s low at 0.9978.