Canadian dollar gains ground
TORONTO — The Canadian dollar strengthened against its U.S. counterpart on Monday as investors bet that economic recovery would not be derailed by rising coronavirus infections and ahead of a speech by new Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem.
World stocks clawed back earlier losses and the U.S. dollar slid as equity investors shrugged off worries that rising coronavirus infections in parts of Europe and the United States over the weekend could scupper a quick economic rebound.
Investors, looking past the COVID-19 pandemic, are betting that the Bank of Canada could be among the first major central banks to hike interest rates, signaling new governor Tiff Macklem’s success so far convincing the market not to expect negative rates.
Macklem is due to speak this morning at 11 a.m. (1500 GMT) on monetary policy in the context of COVID-19, his first speech as the new governor. A press conference will follow.
The Canadian dollar was trading 0.3 per cent higher at 1.3562 to the greenback, or 73.74 U.S. cents. The currency, which dipped 0.1 per cent last week, traded in a range of 1.3561 to 1.3630.
Speculators have raised their bearish bets on the Canadian dollar for the first time in four weeks, data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed on Friday. As of June 16, net short positions had increased to 25,486 contracts from 24,829 in the prior week.
The price of oil, one of Canada’s major exports, fell on Monday as concern grew that a record rise in global coronavirus infections could stall recovery in fuel demand. U.S. crude prices were down 0.5 per cent to $39.54 a barrel.
Canadian government bond yields were mixed across a flatter curve, with the 10-year down 2.2 basis points at 0.512 per cent.