USD index rises as markets "wake up" after the Easter Holiday

Today's expected range for the Canadian Dollar against the major currencies:

US Dollar         1.2500-1.2600

Euro                 1.4800-1.4900

Sterling            1.7350-1.7450

The US Dollar Index is marginally stronger this morning in what was a quiet market after the Easter Holiday. European markets played catch-up to the US after Friday's strong US Employment report and Germany reported that they will have 20% of their population vaccinated by the end of the month. They still lag behind the progress of the US but are making progress none-the -less.

The Canadian Dollar gave back a little strength to the US Dollar as the Loonie continues to range trade against its Southern neighbour and for the moment it does not have any real direction. The Loonie did lose considerable ground to the Euro which was much stronger yesterday so EUR.CAD opens that day at the 1.4835 level, almost 100 points higher than its low on Monday. The Oil price was also moving around a little as it was announced that Iran while not having direct negotiations with the US would have third-party discussion about rejoin the 2015 nuclear pact. Nothing in the near future will change but if Iran were to come back to the pact then there would be a flood of oil to the global supply chain and the Loonie would feel the impact.

We should see some activity on the release of today's US March inflation report, it is expected that the annualized US inflation rate will hit 2.4%, you may see a jump in US interest rates if the number is above expectation which would help push USD.CAD higher.