MONTREAL ― The loonie had the best year of any major currency in the world in 2019, sparking some optimistic predictions about where the Canadian dollar is headed next. Canada’s job market shed a surprisingly large number of jobs at the end of 2019, while exports and retail sales also disappointed. The Canadian dollar had a stellar run right at the very end of 2019, breaking through the 77-cent mark on December 31, the first time it hit that level since October 2018. “The key risk is the BoC itself, which tends to talk more dovishly whenever (the Canadian dollar) shows material strength,” said Shahab Jalinoos, head of foreign exchange strategy at global banking giant Credit Suisse, as quoted at Bloomberg News. A stronger Canadian dollar would make it likelier the Bank of Canada would cut interest rates, in an effort to make the loonie less attractive to foreign investors.

Source: Huffington Post January 03, 2020 19:41 UTC