The Canadian Dollar declined today to trade in the region of a seven month low against the US Dollar as Canadian data continues to cause concern.
The Canadian Dollar Exchange Rate was in the region of 0.9848 against the US Dollar as of 15:26 pm GMT
Yesterday we reported that the Canadian Dollar was trading below 99 US cents for the first time since July of last year as fears of a slowdown in the world’s 11th largest economy were exacerbated by a deeper drop in Canadian wholesale sale prices than forecast.
The 0.9 per cent drop in wholesale sales from November followed disappointing Canadian employment data and the nation’s most notable drop in manufacturing sales since 2009.
Earlier this week Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney commented that ‘what we’ve done successfully […] is we’ve pivoted from stimulating household demand — housing market and household borrowing for consumption — kept employment up, and we’ve pivoted to focus on investment and exports. […] what we’re seeing without question is a very constructive evolution of Canadians’ attitude towards debt and towards the housing market and it is moving towards a much more sustainable equilibrium’. But it seems investors don’t agree.
Today the Canadian Dollar slipped by a further 0.4 per cent against its American counterpart, touching C$1.0156 and hitting a near 7-month low. The ‘Loonie’ also fell against the Euro but was able to gain slightly on a broadly softening British Pound.
As well as home-grown economic concerns, significant fluctuations in the price of crude oil (a key Canadian export) saw the ‘Loonie’ fall against several of its biggest rivals.
An index of raw materials also declined, weighing on the commodity driven currency.
With investors largely expecting negative results from Friday’s Canadian retail sales and inflation data the currency could trade lower still as the week wears on.
As Joe Manimbo, a market analyst with Western Union Business Solutions, was quoted as saying: ‘Economic pressures are on the rise in Canada, that’s one of the main things pressuring the Loonie. There is some data on Friday that investors are nervous about which may highlight growing concerns about underlying fundamentals in Canada.’
With the US being one of Canada’s largest trading partners investors will also be focusing on economic news from that nation in the days ahead, including this evening’s publication of minutes from the latest meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. Any further news regarding the looming sequester (across the board US spending cuts) is also of interest.
So far this year the Canadian Dollar has lost roughly 2 US cents.
Current Canadian Dollar Exchange Rates
The Canadian Dollar to Euro (CAD/EUR) exchange rate is trading at 0.7355
The Canadian Dollar to Pound Sterling (CAD/GBP) exchange rate is trading at 0.6431
The Canadian Dollar to US Dollar (CAD/USD) exchange rate is trading at 0.9848
The Canadian Dollar to Australian Dollar (CAD/AUD) exchange rate is trading at 0.9556
The Canadian Dollar to New Zealand Dollar (CAD/NZD) exchange rate is trading at 1.1760
The Canadian Dollar to Japanese Yen (CAD/JPY) exchange rate is trading at 92.1389
These exchange rates were correct as of 15:26 pm GMT
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