Dollar poised to close below 70 cents U.S.

The dollar fell as low as 69.89 cents USA before noon for the first time since the spring of 2003.

The last time the Canadian dollar closed beneath the 70-cent US mark was on April 30, 2003, when it was 69.76 cents U.S.

“Oil will remain volatile over the next few weeks and at the moment it does still look like momentum will take the price lower”, said Michael J. Smith, a Toronto currency expert at AFEX, a global non-bank provider of foreign currency services.

That’s not good news for our neighbors to the north (or the US companies that make money exporting to them), but Doyle has been right before, according to the CBC: He nailed a prediction he made last February that the Canadian dollar would fall below 70 cents USA within a year. “With China and oil prices and the Bank of Canada all against the Canadian dollar, it’s sort of flat on its back right now”. The University of Guelph’s Food Institute estimates the average Canadian household spent an additional $325 on food in 2015 and is expected see an additional increase of about $345 this year because of the low dollar.

“I lived through the financial crisis of 2008, and I can tell you, this is not 2008”, Alexander said on CTV’s Canada AM on Wednesday.

But oil prices are not the only factor.

“The negative effects of the oil price shock are increasingly spreading beyond the energy-producing regions and sectors”, the bank said in the survey, adding that weak commodity prices “poses significant challenges for many businesses”.

The currency has weakened for 10 straight days against the U.S. dollar Wednesday, the longest run of daily losses since the country ended its currency’s peg to the United States dollar in 1971 and let it trade freely.

Uncertain prospects for global growth are tamping down demand for Canada’s natural resources, Leblond said. “What we’re not getting is clear evidence of the positive effect of lower oil prices, that is a bit of a surprise and that’s what the uncertainty is increasingly now”. That would send the loonie even lower.

Like oil, the currency’s value fluctuates on a second-by-second basis. It lowered rates again in July to the current 0.5 per cent.