The Canadian dollar gained against the US dollar on Thursday as oil prices surged more than 10 percent to close at nearly $47/bbl on indications that OPEC will move to cut production quotas yet again. However, where USD/CAD goes on Friday may hinge upon a highly market-moving report on Friday. At 7:00 ET, data is expected to show that the Canadian net employment change fell by 55,000 during February after plunging a record 129,000 in January alone. Furthermore, the unemployment rate is anticipated to have risen to match the nearly five-year high of 7.4 percent from 7.2 percent. Since the employment change tends to be a very volatile release, this should have the greater impact on the Canadian dollar, with a sharper than expected drop likely to weigh on the currency and an unexpected positive result likely to push it higher.
For the day's economic developments read the Daily Fundamentals.
