By FXEmpire.com

Analysis and Recommendations:

The USD/CAD is trading at 0.9868 outperforming, up 0.2% against the USD and stronger on all its crosses. The outperformance is likely due to underlying flows as CAD is increasingly viewed as having the potential for upside. There is no data in Canada, leaving USDCAD subject to broader market themes.

In the US there was positive and some not so positive data today.

The Institute for Supply Management said its services sector index in April dropped to 53.5% from 56.0% in March to mark the worst reading since December. Economists had forecast a 55.4% reading. U.S. productivity fell 0.5% in the first quarter, but none of the decline occurred in manufacturing. Economists expected productivity to fall by 1.0%. Growth in the U.S. services sector slowed in April, with a weakening pace of production, new orders and employment, according to a key index.

The number of Americans who filed requests for unemployment benefits fell last week for the first time in a month, down 27,000 to 365,000, In a separate report, U.S. employers planned to cut 40,559 jobs in April, an 11% increase from a year ago, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. The April total is also up 7.1% from the 37,880 job cuts announced in March.

Economic Events for May 3, 2012 actual v. forecast

GBP

Nationwide HPI (MoM)

-0.2%

0.5%

-1.0%

TRY

Turkish CPI (MoM)

1.52%

1.18%

0.41%

GBP

Services PMI

53.3

54.6

55.3

EUR

Interest Rate Decision

1.00%

1.00%

1.00%

USD

Nonfarm Productivity (QoQ)

-0.5%

-0.5%

1.2%

USD

Initial Jobless Claims

365K

380K

392K

USD

Unit Labor Costs (QoQ)

2.0%

2.8%

2.7%

USD

Continuing Jobless Claims

3276K

3311K

3329K

Economic Events for May 4, 2012 for the European and US Markets

08:15 CHF Retail Sales 1.2% 0.8%

Retail Sales measure the change in the total value of inflation-adjusted sales at the retail level. It is the foremost indicator of consumer spending, which accounts for the majority of overall economic activity.

10:00 EUR Retail Sales 0.3% -0.1%

Retail Sales measure the change in the total value of inflation-adjusted sales at the retail level. It is the foremost indicator of consumer spending, which accounts for the majority of overall economic activity.

13:30 USD Nonfarm Payrolls 170K 120K

Nonfarm Payrolls measures the change in the number of people employed during the previous month, excluding the farming industry. Job creation is the foremost indicator of consumer spending, which accounts for the majority of economic activity.

13:30 USD Unemployment Rate 8.2% 8.2%

The Unemployment Rate measures the percentage of the total work force that is unemployed and actively seeking employment during the previous month.

Government Bond Auctions (this week)

Date Time Country

May 08 09:15 Austria

May 08 09:30 Belgium

May 08 14:30 UK

May 08 15:30 Italy

May 08 17:00 US

May 09 09:10 Sweden

May 09 09:30 Germany

May 09 09:30 Swiss

May 09 09:30 UK

May 09 14:30 Sweden

May 09 15:30 Italy

May 09 17:00 US

May 10 15:00 US

May 10 17:00 US

May 11 09:10 Italy BOT auction

May 11 10:00 Belgium

Click here to read USD/CAD Technical Analysis.

Originally posted here