Investing.com - The U.S. dollar trimmed losses against its Canadian counterpart on Thursday, after data showed that U.S. jobless claims fell unexpectedly last week and as the Federal Reserve's latest policy statement also lent support.
USD/CAD pulled away from 1.1569, the session low, to hit 1.1618 during early U.S. trade, still down 0.09%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.1545, the low of December 15 and resistance at 1.1676, the high of December 16 and a five-year high.
The greenback found support after the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending December 12 fell by 6,000 to 289,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 295,000. Economist had forecast an increase of 1,000.
At the conclusion of its monthly policy meeting on Wednesday, the Fed said it would be "patient" before raising rates, guidance which it said is consistent with earlier assurances statement that rates would stay low "for a considerable time."
The central bank acknowledged the improvement in the U.S. labor market and noted that the economy is making progress toward its goals in inflation and employment.
At the bank’s post policy meeting press conference Fed Chair Janet Yellen said the Fed was unlikely to raise rates for the "next couple of meetings" indicating that a move in April at the earliest is possible.
The loonie was higher against the euro, with EUR/CAD declining 0.59% to 1.4276.
Also Thursday, the Ifo Institute said its business climate index for Germany rose to 105.5 this mongh from a reading of 104.7 in November. Analysts had expected the index to tick up to 105.4 in December.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release data on manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region.