Canadian dollar dips as Fed's new guidance weighs
By Fergal Smith
TORONTO (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar edged lower against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday as investors continued to take in the Federal Reserve's more hawkish guidance, with the loonie giving back some of this week's gains.
The loonie was trading 0.1% lower at 1.2323 to the greenback, or 81.15 U.S. cents. It has gained 1.1% since the start of the week after declining sharply last week.
"It could be more consolidative, a bit choppy in the short term here as markets continue to digest last week's FOMC," said Erik Nelson, a currency strategist at Wells Fargo in New York.
"We'd expect some downward pressure on the loonie in the short term."
In a surprise move, the Fed last week projected it would begin hiking rates in 2023 rather than in 2024. Investors have been struggling to interpret signals from the central bank about how hot it is willing to let inflation run.
Canada is a major producer of commodities, including oil and copper, which have benefited from Fed stimulus.
Copper fell for the first time this week, pressured by mixed signals from the Fed, but oil settled 0.3% higher at $73.30 a barrel.
Confidence among Canadian exporters has surged to its highest level in more than 20 years, amid mounting optimism that a sustained global economic recovery is underway, a survey by Export Development Canada showed.
Preliminary data for May from Statistics Canada showed factory sales rising 1% from April and wholesale trade up 1.1%.
Canadian government bond yields eased across a flatter curve. The 10-year was down about 1 basis point at 1.414% but holding well above the 3-1/2-month low it hit last Friday at 1.364%.
(Reporting by Fergal Smith; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Dan Grebler)
