It's Official: Canadian Dollar > U.S. Peso

[Mr. Ritz]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...refer=currency


Canada's Dollar Trades Almost Equal to U.S. Amid Commodity Boom

By Haris Anwar

Sept. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Canada's dollar traded almost equal to the U.S. currency for a second day amid optimism economic growth will be fueled by surging demand for the commodities.

The currency rose above $1 yesterday for the first time since November 1976. Gold rose to the highest in 27 years today, while crude oil set a record high yesterday. Commodities account for about half of Canada's exports.

``In the short-term, there is little to suggest the Canadian dollar is going to fall from here,'' said Shaun Osborne, chief currency strategist at TD Securities in Toronto. ``The U.S. dollar is looking generally soft and oil prices are liable to remain strong for a while. The odds favor the Canadian dollar staying firm.''

Canada's dollar rose to 99.88 U.S. cents at 10:36 a.m. in Toronto, from 99.76 U.S. cents yesterday, after earlier climbing to a three-decade high of $1.0064. The U.S. dollar buys C$1.0012. The currency has gained 2.65 percent this week and 16 percent this year, the most against the U.S. dollar among the 16 most actively traded currencies.

Canada has benefited from rising demand for copper, gold, wheat and oil from the U.S. and from emerging economies such as India and China. The country is the world's largest producer of uranium, the second-biggest exporter of natural gas, and sits on the largest pool of oil reserves outside the Middle East.

The currency briefly pared its gains after a report showed Canada's retail sales declined 0.8 percent in July after falling 1.1 percent in the previous month, according to Statistics Canada. The median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey was for sales to be flat.

The yield on the benchmark two-year Canadian government bond fell 3 basis points, or 0.03 percentage point, to 4.29 percent. The price of the 3.75 percent security maturing in June 2009 rose 5 cents to C$99.13. Bond yields move inversely to prices.

[TheHipHopBillGates]

If you want to get real funny, I think the Mexican GNP is better too.