A rebound in oil prices on Friday, in addition to a better-than-expected unemployment rate figure for the month of April, finally snapped the Canadian dollar out of its 10-day losing streak, which began on April 21st.
The Canadian dollar began to strengthen after Statistics Canada said the unemployment rate in April had dropped by 0.2 percent to 6.5 percent, “the lowest since October of 2008.,” said the agency.
Additionally, Statistics Canada added that employment increased only in British Columbia (+11,000) and Prince Edward Island (800+). Employment in other provinces remained mostly unchanged, according to the Labour Force Survey.
But the CAD began to gain even more ground against the greenback as the price of crude oil rallied from $44.50 to $47.00 per barrel - a gain of more than 5% - by 11:00 a.m. EDT. Although the data from Statistics Canada gave the CAD a boost, Friday’s stunning reversal in crude oil futures was enough to send the USD/CAD rate under 1.37:
While the USD/CAD rate was hovering near a 1.37935 on Friday morning - the lowest rate in 15 months for the Canadian currency - by the end of the trading day, the pair was trading as low as 1.36424.
During today’s trading session, the CAD gained 0.73 against the U.S. dollar to close at 1.36491.
CAD banknotes photo by Carissa Rogers
