Canadian Dollar Could See Breakouts on Upcoming Canadian Employment Figures

The Canadian dollar held up rather well on Wednesday, as USD/CAD continues consolidating within a large triangle formation and above key trendline support near 1.2300. A break higher or lower could be in the cards in the near-term, though, as Canadian economic data will be released on Thursday. At 7:00 ET, reports are forecasted to show that the Canadian net employment change fell by 50,000 during March, marking the fifth straight month of job losses. Furthermore, the unemployment rate is anticipated to have risen to match January 2002 high of 8.8 percent from 7.7 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 push USD/CAD higher, while an unexpected positive result could weigh the pair below 1.2300.