USD/CAD struggling to move back above 1.3500 handle

The USD/CAD pair was seen consolidating Thursday's strong move to over 3 week highs, beyond 1.3500 psychological mark.

Currently trading around 1.3490 region, with minor positive bias, Thursday's disappointing Canadian CPI print negated upbeat monthly retail sales and added on to upward revision of US Q3 GDP growth, lifting the pair to its highest level since Nov. 28. The pair, however, lost momentum and pulled-back below 1.3500 handle on disappointing US personal income / spending data. 

On Friday, the pair was seen making a fresh attempt to move past 1.3500 handle amid weaker sentiment surrounding oil market, which tends to weigh on the commodity-linked currency - Loonie. In fact, WTI crude oil is now currently trading back below $53.00/barrel mark, with a loss of over 0.5%.

Investor now shift their focus to another important Canadian macro release, monthly GDP for the month of October, due later during NA session and is expected to remain flat on a monthly basis as compared to 0.3% growth recorded in the previous month. Also in focus would be new home sales data and revised UoM consumer sentiment index from the US. 

Technical levels to watch

From current levels, sustained strength back above 1.3500 mark, leading to momentum above 1.3520 (yesterday's high), now seems to open room for continuation of the pair's near-term upward trajectory towards multi-month highs resistance near 1.3590 region touched in mid-Nov. On the downside, weakness below 1.3480 (session low) might get extended towards 1.3450-45 region and a follow through selling pressure is likely to drag the pair back towards 1.3415-10 previous strong resistance turned important support.