The Canadian dollar has posted gains on Thursday, continuing the upward movement which marked the Wednesday session. Currently, USD/CAD is trading at 1.3060, up 0.31% on the day. In economic news, the U.S releases Final GDP, with an estimate of 4.2%. In the U.S, there a host of key indicators. Core durable goods orders and durable goods orders are expected to improve in August, with forecasts of 0.4% and 1.9% percent, respectively. Final GDP is expected to post a strong gain of 4.2% and unemployment claims are forecast to climb to 209 thousand. There are no data releases in Canada. On Friday, Canada releases monthly GDP and inflation indicators. The U.S releases Personal Spending and UoM Consumer Sentiment.
As widely expected, the Federal Reserve pressed that rate trigger for the third time this year, raising the benchmark rate by a quarter-point, to a range of 2 percent to 2.25 percent. The Fed intends to continue gradually raising rates, with another rate hike expected in December and three hikes in 2019. What was of more interest to investors was the rate statement, in which the Fed removed the word ‘accommodative’ in the statement, which means that the Fed now considers monetary policy to be neutral. Fed Chair Jerome Powell, in a bid to keep markets calm, stated in a follow-up press conference that removing accommodative language in the statement did not reflect a change in policy. Still, the markets were upbeat after the Fed meeting and the U.S dollar has responded with gains against the Canadian dollar on Thursday.
