Major central bank decision-makers have been keeping us quite busy this week. Yesterday, U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen announced that even though inflation remains weak and is difficult to explain, it would be imprudent to wait for it to reach 2% to raise the Fed’s key interest rate. The message echoed the remarks that her colleague Charles Evans had made the previous day and the U.S. dollar saw the sharpest rise since January against all G10 currencies except the Canadian dollar.
The strength of the CAD can be explained by reassuring comments from Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau regarding the impact of the strong Canadian dollar. According to Morneau, the loonie’s level is a reflection of our robust economy and will not prevent it from continuing to perform well. However, this message appeared to contradict last week’s comments from Deputy Governor Timothy Lane.
Today, Stephen Poloz can provide us with additional insight into the Bank of Canada’s position. He will be giving a very closely watched speech at 11:45 and will take part in a press conference immediately afterward.
Alexis Masson
Range of the day : 1.2300 – 1.2450