FOX: Canadian Dollar Up Slightly as Market Waits for New Catalyst
The U.S. dollar was at C$1.0256 Tuesday morning, from C$1.0260 late Monday, according to data provider CQG.
It reached a session high of C$1.0269, just below Monday's C$1.0279 peak.
"The bias remains broadly to the topside in [the U.S./Canadian dollar pair] but we need a catalyst to break higher," said Jeremy Stretch, head of FX strategy with CIBC World Markets in London.
Congressional testimony from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who presents the Fed's monetary policy report to the Senate Banking Committee at 10:00 a.m. EST, could provide an such a catalyst, Mr. Stretch said.
"From a domestic perspective, I guess we're probably waiting for the more significant data points that we get toward the end of the week," he said.
Canadian current-account data for the fourth quarter will be released on Thursday, followed by gross domestic product data for the same period on Friday.
A break by the U.S./Canadian dollar pair to the C$1.0230-40 area will be provide buying opportunities, Mr. Stretch said. The greenback could ascend to the mid C$1.0300s if there's substantial underperformance in the GDP report, he said.
Analysts believe the Canadian economy grew by about 0.6% on an annualized basis in the fourth quarter.
Write to Don Curren at don.curren@dowjones.com
