The Canadian dollar edged higher against its U.S. counterpart on Friday, recouping some of this week’s decline, as investors cheered prospects for a COVID-19 vaccine and domestic data showed factory shipments falling in line with expectations.
U.S. stock index futures rose after Pfizer said it could apply for emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate as early as November, while data showed stronger-than-expected retail sales growth last month.
Canada is a major producer of commodities, including oil, so the loonie tends to be sensitive to prospects for global economic recovery.
U.S. crude prices were down 0.9 per cent at $40.59 a barrel on concern that a spike in COVID-19 cases in Europe and the United States is curtailing demand in two of the world’s biggest fuel consuming regions.
Canadian manufacturing sales fell by 2.0 per cent in August, following three months of consecutive gains, Statistics Canada said. Excluding transportation equipment, sales rose 1.1 per cent.
The Canadian dollar was trading 0.1 per cent higher at 1.3206 to the greenback, or 75.72 U.S. cents, having traded in a range of 1.3191 to 1.3237. For the week, the loonie was on track to end 0.7 per cent lower.
Preserving Canada’s triple-A credit rating could be less of a priority for Ottawa than in years gone by, with the focus on digging the economy out of a hole rather than staying in a shrinking group of top-rated sovereign borrowers, analysts say.
Canadian government bond yields were mixed across the curve, with the 10-year nearly unchanged at 0.571 per cent.
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