USD/CAD struggles to hold above 1.34 as WTI surpasses $60
- WTI comes within a touching distance of 2019 highs above $60.
- US Dollar Index advances to session top at 96.74.
- Coming up: Weekly API oil stock report.
Despite the broad-based USD strength in the second half of the day on Tuesday, the USD/CAD pair eased from its highs with the commodity-related loonie taking advantage of rising crude oil prices. As of writing, the pair was trading at 1.3384, losing 0.13% on a daily basis.
Following the heavy sell-off witnessed in the second half of the previous week, crude oil prices staged a decisive recovery on Tuesday with the barrel of West Texas Intermediate advancing within one cent of 2019 high that was set last week at $60.36. Ahead of the weekly API crude oil stock report, the WTI is trading near $60, adding more than 1.5% on the day.
On the other hand, the US Dollar Index broke out of its tight consolidation channel in the early NA session and extended its daily gains to a fresh high above 96.70. Although today's data from the U.S. came in mixed, the greenback didn't have a difficult time outperforming its rivals. A strong recovery seen in the T-bond yields could be helping out the greenback as well.
Earlier today, the U.S. Census Bureau announced that housing starts and building permits declined by 8.7% and 1.6% in February, respectively. On a positive note, the FHFA said that house prices in January rose 0.6% to beat the analysts' estimate of 0.3%. Finally, the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index eased to 124.1 in March from 131.4 in February.
On Wednesday, trade balance data from both Canada and the United States will be looked upon for fresh impetus.
Technical levels to consider