​VBCE Daily Foreign Exchange Update for Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2016

USDCAD spot rate: 1.3102 - 1.3107 (as at 8:30am PST)

Technical Support / Resistance:

Key Economic Data Releases:

-U.S. retail sales: -0.1% (exp. 0.3% / prev. 0.6%)

-U.S. producer price index: 0.4% (exp. 0.1% / prev. 0.0%)

-U.S. industrial production: -0.4% (exp. -0.2% / prev. 0.1%)

-U.S. Fed interest rate decision 11am

Key Event Calendar:

At 11am the Federal Reserve will announce what's expected to be the first rate hike of 2016. With every economist surveyed calling for a 25 basis-point hike, attention is likely to focus on Chair Janet Yellen's post-decision press conference at 11:30am, which is expected to be a dovish tone. While market-implied probabilities put the chance of an increase at 100%, they also imply an 8% possibility of a 50 basis-point increase. Investors will be keen to see how policy makers change their 2017 forecasts. The so-called dot plot graphic which contains rate forecasts of each of the 17 officials on the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee, will give an early glimpse of their thinking about next steps. When the dots were last updated in September, the median projection, shared by 9 of the 17 central bankers, called for 2 rate increases next year. That's a far cry from December 2015, when the median FOMC forecast was for 4 hikes this year and another 4 next. They cut those projections throughout 2016 amid financial-market turmoil, concerns about global growth and low inflation expectations. Currently, the TSX is down 0.38% and the Dow is down 0.19%. EURCAD is up 0.02% trading between 1.3925 and 1.3985. GBPCAD is up 0.07% trading between 1.6566 and 1.6674. JPYCAD is down 0.08% trading between 0.01138 and 0.01141. Gold is up 0.48% trading between $1,157 and $1,165USD/oz., silver is up 1.35% trading between $16.89 and $17.19USD/oz., while oil is up 0.07% trading between $51.87 and $52.75.