A Canadian dollar coin, commonly known as the "Loonie", is pictured in this illustration picture taken in Toronto in this January 23, 2015, file photo. The Canadian dollar pared earlier session losses against its U.S. counterpart on Tuesday, strengthening after data showed January growth was better than feared. REUTERS/Mark Blinch/FilesMARK BLINCH/Reuters
The Canadian dollar was little changed Monday, closing at 75.43 cents (U.S.), down a mere 0.02 cents from Friday.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude settled at an even $44.00 (U.S.), down 63 cents from Friday's close.
Traders seem to be taking a wait and see approach and are quiet ahead of what could be a volatile week for financial and currency markets.
On Thursday at 2 pm ET, the U.S. Federal Reserve will announce its interest rate decision. If the Fed raises rates it will be the first time it has done so since June, 2006. During the two day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, U.S. Fed Reserve chairperson Janet Yellen may also provide some insight into the Fed's monetary plans for the rest of 2015 and into 2016. A rise in rates in the U.S. now or later will put more downward pressure on the loonie, which is currently sitting near an 11-year low.
Other data of interest to watch is U.S. retail sales and Empire State manufacturing on Tuesday, Canadian manufacturing sales, foreign securities purchases and U.S. consumer price index (CPI) on Wednesday, U.S. building permits and Philly Fed manufacturing on Thursday and Canadian CPI on Friday.
Last week the Bank of Canada announced it was leaving its overnight policy rate unchanged at 0.5 per cent.
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