USD index moves higher as IT companies stocks suffer

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

US Dollar             1.2650-1.2750

Euro                     1.4300-1.4400

Sterling                1.7200-1.7300

The US Dollar index and the US Bond markets are marginally higher this morning as poor subscriber results from Facebook and Spotify dragged stocks lower around the world last night which will be followed on by North American markets this morning.

In Central Bank news, the Bank of England as expected increased rates by 0.25% for the second time in a row, in Europe the ECB as expected kept interest rates at current levels. The UK now has it's highest level of interest rates since 2004 and there was some interest from policy makers to raise the rate by 0.5% but that was voted down. GBP.USD and GBP.CAD both jumped on the news but have fallen back a bit since the announcement.

In Europe the ECB has agreed to pull back the amount of stimulus they are providing the economy but did not raise their interest rates and have allowed to let inflation run hot for the near term. The Euro was basically unchanged after the announcement.

USD.CAD opens the day at the 1.2700 (0.7874) level so it lost a little ground overnight to the stronger US Dollar. OPEC announced that they would increase output by 400K barrels per day in March but that did not have much impact on the oil price which is a little lower this morning.

Nothing on the calendar today so markets will get setup for tomorrow's employment reports. If North American stocks have a big drop, then look for the US Dollar to jump higher again.