News and Updates

It has been a challenging few days for the Canadian dollar, both domestically and internationally. It began last Friday when Statistics Canada reported a loss of 6,400 jobs, completely missing economists’ prediction of a 25,000 job gain. On the global front, China’s economic prowess, which has fueled the global economy, is now showing signs of stumbling. Recent trade data from China released on Tuesday revealed significant declines in imports and exports. Wednesday brought more negative news, with clear signs that China has entered a perilous deflationary phase, marked by declining prices and reduced economic activity, which could lead to even further declines. Predictably, these adverse developments weakened the Canadian dollar, as investors sought refuge in the relative safety of the US dollar, abandoning riskier assets like the Canadian dollar. The Canadian dollar fell to a low of 1.3501 on Tuesday.

The Canadian Dollar continued its decline against the US Dollar on Tuesday morning. The latest drop followed the release of trade data from China, the world’s second-largest economy, revealing that July exports hit the lowest level since February 2020. The trade data was the most recent in a series of weaker economic data points indicating that the Chinese economy is faltering.

The Canadian dollar fell just shy of hitting a month-low on Wednesday after the credit rating agency Fitch downgraded the US government’s credit rating from its highest AAA rating to the second highest AA+. The announcement resulted in a noticeable cascade throughout the financial system. Everything from equities to cryptocurrencies, and perhaps most significantly for the Canadian dollar, oil prices, lost value. Investors quickly moved to dump risky assets such as the Canadian dollar for safe-haven assets like the US dollar. Although it may seem counterintuitive for investors to invest in US dollars just as the US government’s creditworthiness has come into question, financial uncertainty and stress will always, at least initially, result in greater demand for the US dollar.

With markets pricing in an almost 100% chance of a quarter-percentage point rate hike by the FED (98.8% to be exact), let’s delve into what the FED would have to do or say to significantly impact the Canadian dollar to US dollar exchange rate.