Investing.com - The U.S. dollar edged higher against the Canadian dollar on Wednesday, firming up ahead of testimony by Fed chair Janet Yellen on Thursday after a recent spate of disappointing economic indicators raised doubts over the durability of the recovery.
USD/CAD hit 1.1106, the highest since Monday and was last up 0.13% to 1.1098.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.1053, Tuesday’s low and resistance at 1.1150.
The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its U.S. consumer confidence index declined to 78.1 in February, from a downwardly revised 79.4 last month, amid concerns over the short-term outlook for business conditions, jobs, and earnings.
Recent weak U.S. economic indicators have raised some doubts over whether the Federal Reserve will maintain the current pace of reductions to its stimulus program.
Janet Yellen was expected to reiterate that the U.S. central bank would continue to roll back its asset purchase program, as long as the economy improves as expected.
Investors were also looking ahead to Canadian data on economic growth on Friday after slightly stronger than forecast domestic inflation data last week prompted investors to trim back expectations for a rate cut by the Bank of Canada.
Elsewhere, the loonie, as the Canadian dollar is also known, was higher against the euro, with EUR/CAD down 0.25% to 1.5197.
The euro shrugged off a report showing that Germany’s forward looking Gfk consumer sentiment index ticked up to a seven-year high of 8.5 for March from 8.3 in February.