While Hollywood stars were honouring the top films of 2013 at the Oscars last night, Russian troops used the final few hours to consolidate their hold on the Crimea. A major diplomatic effort is underway this morning to defuse the situation, with a meeting scheduled between UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. However markets do not appear to be taking a favourable view of the situation, with S&P 500 futures down 1% this morning, gold up more than 1.75% and the U.S. dollar and the yen taking advantage of their status as safe haven currencies to gain ground against their peers. In short, risk aversion is the name of the game on markets, and is driving the USD/CAD pairing higher.
Given this context, the economic news scheduled for today is very likely to take a backseat to the Ukrainian crisis. Nevertheless, at 8:30 this morning, Canadian Industrial Product Price Index and Raw Material Price numbers for January will be announced. Markets anticipate an increase of 0.5% and 1.5% respectively. This could mean good news for the Canadian economy, as some pundits fear a disappointing economic performance in 2014. Have a great day! Xavier Villemaire
Range of the day: 1.1040-1.1160
