By Ketki Saxena
Investing.com -- The Canadian dollar weakened against its US counterpart as crude prices fell, and as yesterday’s cooler than expected CPI data weighed on the loonie.
Data from Statistics Canada showed that inflation in Canada accelerated by 3.1% in October on an annual basis, down from 3.8% in September.
The US Dollar meanwhile advanced against a basket of currencies as economic data today added credence to yesterday’s hawkish Fed minutes, which warned of a still restrictive, higher for longer rate environment.
Today’s US jobless claims reflected a resilient labour market, while data from University of Michigan showed that the 5-year inflation expectations remained elevated at 3.2% YoY.
Yesterday's Canadian CPI data, on the other hand, has cemented market expectations of rate cuts being the Bank of Canada’s next move, as did today's commenst from BoC Governor Tiff Macklem.
In a speech today, Macklem noted, "This tightening of monetary policy is working, and interest rates may now be restrictive enough to get us back to price stability".
"The excess demand in the economy that made it too easy to raise prices is now gone."
The diverging expectations for rate cuts from BoC vs the Fed are expected to serve as a headwind for the loonie.
Analysts at MUFG note, “With the Canadian rate market currently pricing in around 75 bps of cuts, it leaves room for further BoC cuts to be priced into next year which should remain a weight on Canadian Dollar performance going forward.”
On a technical level for the pair, analysts at FXStreet note, “The USD/CAD continues to get snarled on the high side of the rising trendline from 1.3100, and the 50-day SMA is providing technical support for any bearish moves into 1.3640.”