Investing.com - The U.S. dollar turned higher against its Canadian counterpart on Thursday, boosted by the release of strong U.S. data and the Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates at the end of its policy meeting on Wednesday.
USD/CAD hit 1.3294 during early U.S. trade, the pair’s highest since Tuesday; the pair subsequently consolidated at 1.3272, rising 0.21%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.3163, Wednesday’s low and a more than three-month trough and resistance at 1.3326, Tuesday’s high.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported on Thursday that initial jobless claims in the week ending June 10 decreased by 8,000 to 237,000 from the previous week’s total of 245,000. Analysts expected jobless claims to fall by 3,000 to 242,000 last week.
Separately, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said its manufacturing index slipped only to 27.6 this month from May’s reading of 38.8. Analysts had expected the index to decline to 24.0.
The Empire State manufacturing index climbed to 19.80 in June from -1.00 the previous month, compared to expectations for a reading of 4.00.
On a less positive note, another report showed that U.S. industrial production was flat in May, disappointing expectations for a 0.2% rise.
The data came a day after the Fed raised interest rates from 1.00% to 1.25%, in a widely expected move. However, disappointing U.S. inflation data released the same day raised questions about whether the central bank will be able to hike rates again later this year.
In Canada, a report on Thursday showed that manufacturing sales increased by 1.1% in April, beating expectations for a 0.7% rise, after a revised 0.8% gain the previous month.
The loonie was higher against the euro, with EUR/CAD sliding 0.43% to 1.4794.