Euro climbs ahead of crucial French vote
seattle/new york — The euro came within a hair of 1.1000 versus the greenback as the Bloomberg dollar spot index fell slightly ahead of the final round of the French presidential election on Sunday.
The common currency rose to its highest since November 9 as traders focused on the French presidential race. The euro rose more than one per cent last week in the aftermath of a debate between the candidates and some expect those gains may continue after election results are released on Sunday evening in France.
The euro gapped higher after the first round of voting narrowed the field of candidates to just centrist Emmanuel Macron and right-wing rival Marine Le Pen. The last opinion polls before a pre-election blackout continue to show Macron with a solid lead.
Canadian dollar rebounds
The Canadian dollar recouped all of its losses last week against the US dollar on Friday, as US oil prices bounced back from some of the previous session’s steep drop.
At 4pm EDT (2000 GMT), the Canadian dollar was trading C$1.3656 to the greenback, or 73.23 US cents, up 0.8 per cent, according to Reuters data.
The price of oil, one of Canada’s major exports, bounced back from levels not seen in five months, on the likelihood that key producers could extend output cuts beyond an agreed-on June deadline.
US crude prices were up 1.54 per cent to $46.47 a barrel.
The currency weakened after data showed Canadian employers added 3,200 jobs last month, short of economists’ forecasts for a gain of 10,000. The unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 6.5 per cent from 6.7 per cent, the lowest since October 2008.
That followed a string of robust job gains over the past few months. But tame wage growth added to the reasons for the Bank of Canada to stay sidelined, said Paul Ferley, assistant chief economist at Royal Bank of Canada.
“It’s not getting any indication of pressure on the inflation front, and they are still concerned about potential trade protectionism emerging in the US, so I think they stay cautious,” he said.