On commodity markets, the see-sawing February contract for West Texas Intermediate crude oil was down 11 cents at US$30.33 a barrel as the North American benchmark continued to test the US$30 mark.
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The Canadian dollar slipped below 70 cents US on Wednesday for the second day in a row as the currency traded near lows set almost 13 years ago.
“What we’re not seeing is the financial distress that we saw in 2008”, Alexander said.
Michael J. Smith, a Toronto currency report expert at AFEX, a global non-bank provider of foreign currency services, believes that falling gas prices may put the country in a larger deficit than originally anticipated.
The Canadian dollar has been on a steady decline, partly due to the declining prices of a barrel of oil.
At the same time the loonie has fallen, the greenback has surged against numerous currencies, including Canada’s, as its economy gains strength.
The Canadian dollar closed at 0.7013 US dollar, compared with Monday’s closing rate of 0.7031 USA dollar. Finance Minister Bill Morneau has said all the right things about stimulus via government infrastructure and tax cuts, but has shared little details ahead of the March unveiling of the first Liberal government budget.
This is also bad news for Canadian shoppers, Bloomberg said. “We recognize that those are important indicators for Canadians as they go about considering their situation”.
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The currency’s value fluctuates on a minute-by-minute basis but fell to as low as 69.89 cents USA before noon ET. It hit an all-time high of 110.3 cents U.S.in November 2007 as Canada’s resource-heavy economy benefited from global demand for its exports.
