USD/CAD continues to move sideways around 1.2100
- USD/CAD is struggling to find direction on Tuesday.
- US Dollar Index rebounds from daily lows, looks to close modestly lower.
- WTI stays in a consolidation phase around $65.
The USD/CAD pair closed the previous four trading days in the negative territory and extended its slide to the lowest level since September 2017 at 1.2077 on Tuesday. However, the risk-averse market environment made it difficult for the CAD to preserve its strength and the pair managed to stage a rebound in the second half of the day. As of writing, USD/CAD was virtually unchanged on the day at 1.2094.
USD selloff pauses
Major European equity indexes suffered heavy losses on Tuesday and Wall Street's main indexes opened deep in the negative territory, helping the greenback show some resilience against its peers. The US Dollar Index, which touched an 11-week low of 89.98 earlier in the day, was last down 0.11% on the day at 90.17.
The data from the US showed that the NFIB Business Optimism Index improved to 99.8 in April from 98.2 and JOLTS Job Openings rose to 8.1 million, compared to analysts' estimate of 7.5 million. Nevertheless, these figures failed to trigger a meaningful market reaction.
On the other hand, crude oil prices continue to fluctuate in a relatively tight range on Tuesday, limiting the commodity-sensitive loonie's gains limited for the time being. Ahead of the American Petroleum Institue's Weekly Crude Oil Stock report, the barrel of West Texas Intermediate is posting small daily gains near $64.
There won't be any significant macroeconomic data releases featured in the Canadian economic docket on Wednesday and investors will be paying close attention to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data from the US.
Technical levels to watch for