USD/CAD steady near 3-week high, flurry of macro data in focus

After a brief pause on Tuesday, the USD/CAD pair resumed with its bullish traction and jumped to fresh 3-week high near mid-1.3400s. The pair, however, has retreated from highs and is now trading around 1.3425 level, still holding with minor gains.

Overnight the pair rebounded sharply and reversed its entire corrective slide posted on Tuesday after the EIA report showed an unexpected build in the US crude oil inventories. Immediately after the data, oil prices dropped sharply and weighed heavily on the commodity-linked currency - Loonie. Softer tone surrounding oil market helped the pair to maintain its bid tone above 1.3400 handle on Thursday. 

Focus now shifts to a slew of major economic releases from Canada and the US, due later during NA session. Important Canadian include - monthly retail sales and CPI print, while the US economic docket features the release of durable goods orders, final revision of Q3 GDP print and core PCE price index along with personal income / spending data. 

Today's macro data will catch market attention and should help investors determine the pair's near-term trajectory amid thin market liquidity conditions ahead of the holiday season.

Technical levels to watch

Momentum above session peak resistance near 1.3450 region now seems to pave way for continuation of the pair's near-term upward trajectory initially towards 1.3485 level and eventually towards 1.3500 psychological mark. On the downside, session low near 1.3410 level now becomes immediate support, which if broken is likely to accelerate the slide towards 50-day SMA support near 1.3355-50 region, with some intermediate support near 1.3375 level.