Forexpros – The U.S. dollar rose to a five-week high against its Canadian counterpart on Wednesday, as concerns over the deepening crisis in the euro zone and lackluster U.S. data clouded the outlook for riskier assets.
USD/CAD hit 1.0454 during early U.S. trade, the pair’s highest since October 6; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.0435, gaining 0.51%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.0345, Tuesday’s low and resistance at 1.0570, the high of October 6.
Earlier in the day, official data showed that new orders for a range of long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods unexpectedly rose in October, but the previous month’s number was revised down sharply.
The Commerce Department said durable goods orders, excluding transportation rose 0.7% after a downwardly revised 0.6% increase in September. Analysts had expected the number to remain unchanged from the previously reported 1.8% increase.
Overall orders fell 0.7% after declining 1.5% in September.
In a separate report, the Labor Department said number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week rose unexpectedly, climbing to a seasonally adjusted 393,000, confounding expectations for a decline to 390,000.
In the euro zone, Germany’s Treasury auctioned just EUR3.64 billion of 10-year government bonds with the average yield set at 1.98% earlier. Total bids for German debt fell short of the maximum amount available by 35%, the worst demand on record.
The Canadian dollar was higher against the euro, with EUR/CAD shedding 0.31% to hit 1.3978.
Also Wednesday, U.S. data showed that consumer spending edged up 0.1% in October, slowing sharply from a revised 0.7% increase the previous month.
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