USD/CAD tumbles to fresh lows near 1.2830 post-data

• US Non-farm Payrolls surpassed estimates at 313K in February.
• Average Hourly Earnings rose 2.6% YoY, a tad below expectations.
• Canadian Employment added 15.4K jobs in February.

The Canadian Dollar gathered extra buying interest vs. its American neighbour at the end of the week, motivating USD/CAD to drop to the area of 1.2830, or session lows.

USD/CAD lower on data

The pair came under selling pressure and visited the area of multi-day lows in the 1.2835/30 band today after Canadian Employment Change rose by 15.4K jobs, missing estimates albeit lower than January’s +20K jobs. In addition, the jobless rate ticked lower to 5.8% vs. 5.9% initially estimated.

In the US calendar, and according to Non-farm Payrolls, the economy created 313K jobs during last month, surpassing market consensus. Further data saw the critical Average Hourly Earnings rising 2.6% on a yearly basis (vs. 2.8% expected) and the unemployment rate unchanged at 4.1%.

Furthermore from the US docket, Chicago Fed and 2019 voter C.Evans said fiscal stimulus is strengthening the economy, although the labour market is not leading to wage pressures yet.

The pair, in the meantime, is extending the correction lower after testing fresh cycle tops in the 1.3000 neighbourhood seen in earlier sessions, turning negative for the week after two consecutive weekly advances at the same time.

USD/CAD significant levels

As of writing the index is retreating 0.41% at 1.2845 and a breakdown of 1.2808 (low Mar.1) would target 1.2722 (38.2% Fibo of the 2017 drop) en route to 1.2671 (200-day sma). On the flip side, the initial hurdle is located at 1.2927 (50% Fibo of the 2017 drop) seconded by 1.3001 (2018 high Mar.5) and finally 1.3132 (61.8% Fibo of the 2017 drop).