USD/CAD drops to fresh 17-day lows near 1.3230
- USD/CAD is falling for the second straight day on Thursday.
- Rising crude oil prices help CAD gather strength against its rivals.
- US Dollar Index stays flat below 94.00 ahead of Jobless Claims data.
The USD/CAD pair lost more than 50 pips on Wednesday and extended its slide to a fresh 17-day low of 1.3228. As of writing, the pair was down 0.17% on the day at 1.3232.
Oil rally continues on Thursday
The steady increase witnessed in crude oil prices since the start of the week continues to provide a boost to the commodity-sensitive loonie. After closing the first three days of the week in the positive territory, the barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is pushing higher on Thursday and was last seen gaining 1.1% on the day at $40.45.
On the other hand, the greenback struggles to find demand on Thursday as risk flows continue to dominate the markets. Reflecting the upbeat market mood, major European equity indexes are up between 0.5% and 0.8% and the S&P 500 futures are gaining 0.5%.
Ahead of the US Department of Labor's weekly Initial Jobless Claims data, which is expected to drop to 820K from 837K, the US Dollar Index is flat on the day at 93.60.
The only data featured in the Canadian economic docket will be Housing Starts and Bank of Canada (BoC) Governor Tiff Macklem will be delivering a speech at 1230 GMT.
Technical levels to watch for