OTTAWA - Gold, oil and the Canadian dollar shot out of the gate Monday as the plunging U.S. dollar and the prospect of continuing low interest rates sent investors searching for high-return assets.
Gold punched through historic highs, breaching the US$1,100 mark to trade up $12.30 to US$1,108 an ounce.
The Canadian dollar soared 1.64 cents US to 94.64 cents US, while oil gained US$2.37 a barrel to trade at US$79.80.
The U.S. dollar was off more than a full percent from its Friday close, with the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major world currencies, falling to a reading of 75.04. It has plunged almost 16% since early March.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark index, meanwhile, shot up 218.17 points, to 11,468.59, within 113 points of its Sept. 22 year high of 11,585.73.
Market watchers credited the move to comments made at the G20 meeting over the weekend in Scotland, at which finance ministers and central bankers said the world was still too dependent on low interest rates and stimulus dollars to pull the plug on those economic life supports.
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PREVIEW-Canadian economy seen bleeding more jobs in March

OTTAWA, April 8 (Reuters) - Canada's economy likely suffered its fifth straight month of heavy job losses in March, which will jack up the unemployment rate to the highest in seven years.

The median forecast of analysts surveyed by Reuters was for 55,000 job losses last month, which would bring total job losses since November to 350,000. That would be the worst back-to-back decline in employment since the 1982 recession although overall job losses were bigger over the course of the downturn of the early 1990s.

Analysts expect a March unemployment rate of 8 percent, up from 7.7 percent in February.

Canada's economy is now expected to have shrunk at its fastest pace on record in the first quarter, surpassing the annualized 5.9 percent decline in the first quarter of 1991. Figures are due in June.Continued...

Weakening global demand for goods has caused huge job losses in the manufacturing sector for some time.

Canadian Dollar Moves Higher Despite Weaker Equities

(CEP News) - Weaker North American equity markets are having little impact on the Canadian dollar as it makes gains against the greenback.
According to some currency strategists, there appears to be some renewed interest in the Canadian dollar Friday morning as the loonie jumps from the third worst currency on the day to the third best.
The U.S. jobs report for March is not providing much direction for currency markets. The U.S. economy shed 663,000 jobs in March and the unemployment rate rose four-tenths to 8.5%. Both numbers were in line with expectations.
USD/CAD has traded in a fairly tight channel Friday. During the Asian session, the cross hit daily lows at 1.2378 CAD, but managed to recover following the employment data, hitting highs at 1.2456.

Canada’s Dollar Depreciates Before U.S. Employment Numbers

April 3 (Bloomberg) -- Canada’s currency weakened for the first day in four ahead of a government report that may show the unemployment rate in the U.S. rose to the highest in a quarter century.
“The Canadian dollar seems to be in a holding pattern,” said Steve Butler, director of foreign-exchange trading in Toronto at Scotia Capital Inc., a unit of Canada’s third-largest lender. The U.S. buys about three-quarters of Canada‘s exports, the largest trading relationship in the world.

Short-Term Forex Technical Outlook: USD/CAD

dailyfx.com
Fears of a deepening recession in Canada led BoC Governor Mark Carney to drop his reluctance to utilize tools beyond the interest rate to manage monetary policy, and as the central bank expects the economic downturn to intensify, deteriorating fundamentals are likely to weigh on the exchange rate as market participants anticipate borrowing costs to fall lower.
Fears of a deepening recession in Canada led BoC Governor Mark Carney to drop his reluctance to utilize tools beyond the interest rate to manage monetary policy, and as the central bank expects the economic downturn to intensify, deteriorating fundamentals are likely to weigh on the exchange rate as market participants anticipate borrowing costs to fall lower. After slipping to a low of 1.1463 in November, the USD/CAD surged to a high of 1.3065 in March, and the pair may continue to hold a broad range over the near-term as risk flows continue to dictate price action in the currency markets. Over the next few hours of trading, I expect the pair to push high to retrace the sell-off from yesterday, and we may see the pair attempt to break above the 120 SMA to make a run for 1.2720-30 (21.4%Fib) over the following week however, if the USD/CAD fails to break above the 21.4% Fib, I would expect the pair the fall back towards the lower-end of its range, and may test 1.2260-70 (50.0% Fib) for short-term support. Nevertheless, as the economic docket is expected to show a weakening outlook for the U.S. labor market, expectations for a rise in unemployment could stoke increased selling pressures on the pair as the outlook for growth and inflation falter. Be sure to check out other Technical Reports from DailyFX for additional information on the major currency pairs.

Canadian dollar falls from new multi-month high against Japanese yen; pair now trading at 80.39

(RTTNews) - Canadian dollar falls from new multi-month high against Japanese yen; pair now trading at 80.39