USD/CAD retreats to 1.4050 on modest oil recovery

• WTI erases portion of daily losses, trades near $19.
• US Dollar Index returns to 100 area ahead of American session.
• Coming up: Conference Board's Leading Economic Index (LEI).

The USD/CAD pair spent the Asian session moving sideways a little above the 1.4000 handle and gained traction during the European trading hours as the ongoing crude oil selloff weighed on the commodity-sensitive loonie. After climbing to a session high of 1.4118, the pair reversed its course and fell into the negative territory. As of writing, the pair was down 0.13% on the day at 1.4060.

After the data from China, the world's second-biggest oil consumer, on Friday revealed that the economy contracted by 6.8% on a yearly basis in the first quarter, crude oil prices continued to push lower amid demand worries. The barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) touched its lowest level since February 2002 at $18.03 but staged a technical recovery. As of writing, WTI was still down around 5% on the day near $19.