The Bank of Canada highlighted a pickup in exports and investment as key factors for the year ahead so that might limit the impact of the retail sales report. Then again, the market has been whipsawed in USD/CAD a few times and there are some large option expiries in the pair at 1400 GMT.
The consensus is for a 0.5% rise in February sales with ex-autos rising at the same pace.
Feels like the market is looking for a reason to buy USD/CAD so we might see a bigger reaction to a soft reading.
