Loonie edges up following rate decision

Canadian dollar rose against most major rivals marginally following Bank of Canada's rate decision today. 

Bank of Canada decided to maintain interest rates unchanged, in a step that was widely expected by markets. 

Bank of Canada decided to maintain rates at 4.5% unchanged. 

CAD/USD rose 0.1% to 0.7439 as of 20:00 GMT. 

Aussie

The Australian dollar rose 0.6% against US counterpart as of 20:00 GMT to 0.6694. 

Yen

USD/JPY fell 0.4% as of 20:04 GMT to 133.2. 

The decline comes following Japanese data that showed producer prices rose 7.2% last month, slowing down from 8.3%.

Japanese Banks' credit index rose 3%, but missed estimates of 3.5%. 

The Dollar

The dollar index fell 0.6% as of 19:43 GMT to 101.5, with a session-high at  102.1, and a low at 101.4. 

US Inflation

US consumer prices rose 5%% in March, the lowest since May 2021, below estimates of a 5.1% rise, and down sharply from 6% in February.

Core prices, excluding food and energy, rose 5.6% y/y, matching estimates, and down from 5.5% in the previous reading.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 0.1% in March, below estimates of 0.2%.

The Fed

While data shows inflation remains much higher than the 2%% target, it shows strong signs of slowdown.

The Fed increased interest rates nine times this year to contain inflation and control prices with the Fed now expected to slow down the pace of its policy tightening following such data

The Federal Reserve's last meeting minutes showed the banking crisis is likely to send the US economy into recession this year.

The March meeting's minutes showcased the discussions between members about the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank and subsequent disruptions of the financial system.

The meeting minutes mentioned that as the labor market tightens, main inflation is expected to slow down sharply next year.