Oil Prices, Economic Concerns Weigh on Canadian Dollar

Canadian dollar continues to struggle in trading today, logging difficulties as economic conditions continue to cause problems, and as oil prices continue to drag the loonie lower. While the Canadian dollar is mostly flat today, there are still worries about underlying weakness.

Loonie is mostly flat against major counterparts today, but it is a flatness toward the downside. The Canadian dollar is down against other major currencies, struggling as economic concerns remain an issue, and as oil prices continue to struggle.

Economic worries center around the weakening employment picture, some continued worries about a housing bubble, and a reduction for inflows coming into Canada. Statistics Canada is expected to release information on the fourth quarter economic growth in 2012, and many expect to see some weakness.

Another concern has to do with oil prices. Oil is below $93 a barrel today, and with the Canadian dollar relying heavily on commodity prices for support, this isn’t very good news. It’s also not helping that Western Canadian Select oil is actually selling at a discount compared to oil benchmarks, and the widening gulf isn’t helping the loonie.

At 15:06 GMT USD/CAD is up to 1.0265 from the open at 1.0261. EUR/CAD is up to 1.3446 from the open at 1.3404. GBP/CAD is up to 1.5576 from the open at 1.5560.

 

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