GFX Morning FX Commentary

Good Morning,

Today's expected range for the Canadian Dollar against the US Dollar is 1.0880-1.0950

Today's expected range for the Canadian Dollar against the Euro is 1.4900-1.4960

Today's expected range for the Canadian Dollar against Sterling is 1.8390-1.8450

The US Dollar is marginally stronger this morning as the release of the UK first quarter GDP report has pushed Sterling lower. UK first quarter GDP came in at 0.8% which was in line with expectation but I think most investors are disappointed that the number did not continue the recent string of exceptional data that the UK economy had been producing. The UK budget deficit for April also grew quite a bit so that may have weighed on Sterling as well.

In other overnight news the Chinese Yuan jumped higher as that nation reported some strong manufacturing data, investors had been worried about a slowdown in China dragging down other regional economies, this report has allayed those fears for the moment.

After spending most of yesterday trading weaker the Canadian Dollar recovered slightly last night ‎as it traded stronger against the US in a very narrow range, the Loonie continues to trade within narrow ranges outside of our trading hours

Up today we get a slew of important economic reports including the US Leading Indicator report for April and the Canadian Retails Sales report for March. For the Retails Sales report we are looking at an increase of 0.3% after last month’s 0.5% increase, a weak number should push USD.CAD well above 1.0900 and while a strong number will push the currency pair lower.

In case you missed it in the new Royal Bank of Canada is reporting record 2.2B Dollars in profits for the 2^nd quarter, if they hit that number over the course of a year they would make $8.8B dollars in the year. If you are a customer of RBC take heart that all those excessive fees you are paying to run your business are going to a good home, I am sure CEO Gord Nixon will get nice big retirement package. Long time readers will know that I believe that the fees we pay for banking services in this country are incredibly high and help to lead many industry sectors being uncompetitive, until the Federal Government removes the unfairness to foreign competition in the Canadian banking industry Canadian business will continue to suffer.

Have a great day.

Mike

GFX Morning Currency Rates
Currencies	7:00am Today's Opening				Yesterday's Opening
USD/CAD		1.0911			1.0905
CAD/USD		0.9165			0.917
EUR/USD		1.3677			1.3691
EUR/CAD		1.4927			1.4931
STG/CAD		1.8411			1.8427
AUD/CAD		1.0086			1.0065
CAD/JPY		93.02			92.57
CAD/CHF		0.8179			0.8181
CAD/HKD		7.0995			7.1051
CAD/CNY		5.712			5.7138
CAD/MXN		11.8693			11.8578
Commodities
Gold		$1,297.00			$1,291.00
OIL		$104.01			$103.15
US DOLLAR INDEX
P.CLOSE		80.07			80.04
OPEN		80.11			79.96
US 10YR YIELD		2.54%			2.52%