BREAKING: CAD ticks higher after strong core retail sales

Canadian retail sales report for April was released today at 1:30 pm BST. Report was expected to show solid increases in headline and core retail sales, following declines in March. Actual data turned out to be a positive surprise. While headline retail sales increased 0.7% MoM, in-line with market expectations, retail sales excluding autos surged 1.8% MoM, much more that 0.6% MoM expected by the markets.

Canadian dollar gained slightly following the release, with USDCAD dropping around 0.1% in a knee-jerk move. However, around half of this move was already erased.

Canada, retail sales for April

• Headline: +0.7% MoM vs +0.7% MoM expected (-0.2% MoM previously)
• Ex-autos: +1.8% MoM vs +0.6% MoM expected (-0.6% MoM previously)

USDCAD remains below 1.3700 resistance zone after Canadian data. Source: xStation5