USD/CAD jumps to daily highs near 1.34 after BoC's dismal Business Outlook Survey

• BoC says business sentiment softened in Q1.
• US Dollar Index recovers from session lows, stays below 97.
• NY Fed's Empire State Manufacturing Index rises in April.

The USD/CAD pair gained more than 70 pips in a matter of minutes in the last hour and came within a touching distance of the 1.34 handle after the loonie came under heavy selling pressure amid the cautious tone in the Bank of Canada's Business Outlook Survey. As of writing, the pair was trading at 1.3370, adding 0.37% on a daily basis.

In its quarterly report, the BoC said business sentiment softened in the first quarter of 2019 with the Business Outlook Survey Indicator slumping to -0.6 from 2.2. "Firms’ expectations for sales remain positive but have softened as several businesses are less optimistic about demand," the BoC further added.

Furthermore, the barrel of West Texas Intermediate is correcting last week's gains today, losing 0.8% on the day to put additional weight on the commodity-related loonie's shoulders.

On the other hand, the NY Fed earlier in the session announced that the Empire State Manufacturing Index improved to 10.1 in April from 3.7 in March and surpassed the analysts' estimate of 6 to help the greenback gather strength against its rivals. The US Dollar Index, which dropped to a daily low of 96.79, was last seen up 0.05% on the day at 96.90.

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