Canadian Dollar Could Break Recent Highs vs. US Dollar on Canadian Retail Sales Report

USD/CAD continued its consolidation above 1.1350 on Thursday, and on Friday morning the release of Canadian retail sales could offer a boost to the Loonie as spending is anticipated to have risen for the third straight month in March at a rate of 0.5 percent. Indeed, Canadian data has generally been better-than-expected latest, as the Canadian economy surprisingly added on employees during April and Ivey PMI rose above 50 - signaling an expansion in business activity - for the first time since October 2008. If the indicator rises in line with or more than expectations, the Canadian dollar could rally, but if retail sales actually fall, the currency could tumble.