By and large, 2019 was a year to remember for the Canadian dollar.
Out of 139 global currencies tracked by Bloomberg, 132 (95 per cent) declined in value relative to the loonie last year. This included several major currencies, including the British pound (down 1 per cent), U.S. dollar (down 4.7 per cent) and euro (down 6.9 per cent).
As such, 2019 was something of a rebound, given close to 80 per cent of currencies strengthened versus the Canadian dollar in 2018.
One factor supporting the loonie is that the Bank of Canada has maintained interest rates, while many of its peers cut rates last year in response to economic headwinds. However, if weak economic data continues to pile up in Canada, the BoC could be compelled to cut rates as well, thus weighing on loonie performance in 2020.
Here’s the full view of last year’s returns. (We’ve highlighted some major currencies below for reference.)