Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President’s comments on the US employment report weigh on the greenback. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari said that The U.S. labor market remains in a “deep hole” and it needs aggressive support to speed its healing from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Kashkari said “We are still somewhere between 8 and 10 million jobs below where we were before the pandemic.”   He said there was some truth to the idea that enhanced jobless benefits create a disincentive to returning to work.

The U.S. job growth unexpectedly softened in April from the prior month, with payrolls increasing just 266,000. Economists in a survey had projected a hiring surge of 1 million people in April. The unemployment rate edged up to 6.1%.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in a press conference that progress would take some time. Officials don’t expect to begin raising the central bank’s benchmark interest rate from its current near-zero level before 2024, according to the median estimate of projections they published in March.

On the other hand. Canada’s plan of reopening seems to favor the CAD. Canada with a daily record of 13,651 COVID-19 vaccines administered on Saturday, Saskatchewan officials announced a target date of May 30 for Step 1 of the re-open plan.

The province has a 3 step reopen plan which will be unveiled on Tuesday. With more than 70 per cent of residents age 40 and older having received their first COVID-19 dose, part of the threshold for Step 1 has been met. The province’s re-open plan largely relies on vaccination levels being met.

Elsewhere, No new deaths due to Covid -19 were reported on Sunday for the second day in-a-row.

USD/CAD 4 Hour Chart:

Support: 1.2100 (S1), 1.2075 (S2), 1.2028 (S3).

Resistance: 1.2171 (R1), 1.2218 (R2), 1.2243 (R3).

In the current prevailing environment where reopening in Canada is being planned and the concerns on the US jobs, CAD seems to be stronger than USD. We expect a bearish trend for USD/CAD.