British pound loses over a quarter of a percent to USD

Today's expected range for the Canadian Dollar against the major currencies:

US Dollar             1.2500-1.2600

Euro                     1.4175-1.4275

Sterling                1.6950-1.7050

The US Dollar index is marginally stronger this morning as the world's stock markets continue to fall on fears of higher inflation, weaker than expected global economic data and an imminent invasion of Ukraine from Russia. The market is still looking for signals to see if the Fed will increase interest rates for the first time in March which they will probably get in the coming weeks.

The British Pound was the big mover overnight as GPB.USD fell over a quarter of a percent on the release of the December Retail Sales report which proved to be very disappointing to the market. UK residents stayed home in droves during December due to the Omicron variant and that affected the whole British economy.

The Canadian Dollar like all commodity currencies gave back some strength overnight as USD.CAD opens the day at the 1.2525 (0.7984) level after spending a lot of yesterday below the 1.2500 level. Up today we get the Canadian Retail Sales report for December and our economy is also expecting a decline in sales from the previous month so we may see the Loonie take a small hit on this report.

Stocks are once again pointing lower on the opening so I expect that the US Dollar should move a little higher at some point today.