CAD holds as China’s expected oil demand rises      

Key Movers

The USD Index has continued to make gains over the last 24 hours as a fear of recession creeps into markets that started the year in positive territory.  Equities futures are mixed going into today’s North American session and WTI Oil has slipped from previous high but continues to hold above $80 in hopes of an uptick in demand from China.  With a lack of data today the USD will be trading on general market sentiment.

Overnight trading reports from APAC show equities markets ended the week strong as Japan’s inflation held at 4%. The AUS didn’t fair well largely due to hawkish talk from the US Fed resulting in countered expectations from the Royal Bank of Australia after a disappointing jobs report.

The Euro is holding onto the most gains made this week as ECB officials continue to talk about further rate hikes. The Pound however took a hit overnight on the back of worse than expected retail sales data. Reports reflected lower than predicted data at -5.8% for December which was worse than the anticipated -4.1%.