Investing.com - The U.S. dollar held steady against its Canadian counterpart on Thursday, after the release of upbeat U.S. economic reports, as equally positive Canadian trade data supported the local currency.
USD/CAD hit 1.3290 during early U.S. trade, the session high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3266.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3115, the low of September 1 and resistance at 1.3350, the high of August 26.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported on Thursday that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending August 29 increased by 12,000 to 282,000 from the previous week’s total of 270,000.
Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to rise by 5,000 to 275,000 last week.
First-time jobless claims have held below the 300,000-level for 26 consecutive weeks, which is usually associated with a firming labor market.
Data also showed that the U.S. trade deficit narrowed to $41.86 billion in July from a deficit of $45.21 billion in June, whose figure was revised from a previously reported deficit of $43.8 billion. Analysts had expected the U.S. trade deficit to narrow to $42.4 billion in July.
Investors were looking ahead to Friday's highly-anticipated jobs report for further indications on the strength of the economy and signs of a potential rate hike by the Federal Reserve this month.
In Canada, data earlier showed that the trade deficit narrowed to C$0.59 billion in July from C$0.81 billion in June, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated deficit of C$0.48 billion.
Analysts had expected the trade deficit to widen to C$1.30 billion in July.
The loonie was higher against the euro, with EUR/CAD tumbling 0.98% to 1.4744.
The single currency weakened broadly after the European Central Bank indicated that it could expand its quantitative easing program amid increased downside risks to its inflation outlook.
The ECB lowered its forecast for growth and inflation, citing oil prices and slowing growth in China.
Earlier Thursday, the ECB kept its benchmark interest rate at a record-low 0.05%, in line with the consensus expectation.