Canadian Dollar and Business Outlook: Loonie hovering around 70 U.S. cents

By Glen Hallick

Glacier FarmMedia MarketsFarm – The Canadian dollar was on the verge of sliding below 70 United States cents on Tuesday morning, as the U.S. dollar remained firm and crude oil fell back.

As of 8:33 am CST, the loonie was at US$0.7000 or US$1=C$1.4284 compared to Monday’s close of US$0.7023 or US$1=C$1.4239. On the U.S. Dollar Index, the greenback inched up 0.019 of a point at 106.575.

Benchmark crude oil prices were lower on Tuesday morning, due to ongoing concerns about China’s sluggish economy and the market moved into a holding pattern ahead of tomorrow’s interest rate announcement by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Brent crude oil gave up 81 cents at US$73.10 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate lost 84 cents at US$69.87.

Statistics Canada reported on Tuesday that inflation in November dipped to annualized rate of 1.9 per cent from two per cent in October.

Shortly after Tuesday’s open, the TSX/S&P Composite Index was down 72.86 points at 25,074.35.

Gold dropped US$17.20 at US$2,652.80 per ounce.