The USD/CAD currency pair on Thursday spiked to trade closer to the trendline resistance before pulling back late to 1.2835. The currency pair has now resumed its trajectory within a gently descending channel formation in the 60-min chart.

The pair spiked on Thursday morning to trade above the 100-hour moving average line. However, the late pullback prevented it from ascending deep into the overbought conditions of the 14-hour RSI.

USD/CAD Fundamentals Overview

From a fundamental perspective, the USD/CAD currency pair is trading at the back of a relatively busy period in the US market. On Thursday, the US initial jobless claims for the week ending April 29 missed the expected claim count of 184k with a higher tally of 200k. On the other hand, the continuing claims for the preceding week outperformed the expectation of 1.4 million with a lower claim count of 1.384 million. 

Earlier in the week, the US ISM Services PMI for April missed the expectation of 58.5 with 57.1. The ISM Services Employment Index and New Orders Index verticals also came short of expectations with 49.5 and 54.6 versus 51.2 and 64.3, respectively. The US Federal Reserve raised the base interest rate to 1% in line with expectations from the previous rate of 0.5%.

In Canada, Imports and Exports for March outperformed expectations while the International Merchandise Trade came short of estimates. The Canadian Global Manufacturing PMI also failed to match forecasts earlier in the week.

USD/CAD Technical Analysis (the 60-min Chart)

Technically, the USD/CAD currency pair seems to be trading within a gently descending channel formation in the 60-min chart. This indicates a slight short-term bearish bias in the market sentiment.

Therefore, the bears will be looking to retain control of the pair by targeting profits at about 1.2773 or lower at 1.2688. On the other hand, the bulls will look to extend the current rebound towards 1.2910 or higher to 1.3000.

USD/CAD Technical Analysis (the Daily Chart)

In the daily chart, the USD/CAD currency pair seems to be trading within an ascending channel formation. This indicates a significant long-term bullish bias in the market sentiment.

Therefore, the bulls will be looking to ride the current trend by targeting profits at about 1.3053, or higher at 1.3238. On the other hand, the bears will be targeting long-term profits at about 1.2632, or lower at 1.2448.