Accelerate your departure plans accordingly.The Canadian dollar will remain the pressure-relief valve for secular productivity challenges, trade-related uncertainty, and the prospect that the Bank of Canada will be compelled to cut rates before year-end as the Fed either remains on hold or succumbs to market pressure to tighten policy. As this plays out at the two countries’ central banks, already deep negative interest rate spreads will move deeper into negative terrain.
As all three challenges persist, if not intensify, the Canadian dollar will face unrelenting pressure, with C$1.60 to the U.S. dollar (62.5 U.S. cents) not out of reach.
As we have seen time and again, it is best to lean against any intermittent Canadian dollar rallies — the loonie is in a fundamental bear market. It says a lot that the CAD, in the face of what was a favourable “terms of trade” shock from the wartime spike in oil prices, could never muster any sustainable rally at all. Great news for domestic tourist operators and a fillip for exporters, not to mention for bargain-hunting American travelers looking for a cheap “European-style” vacation (check out Quebec City) without having to fly over the Atlantic. But bad news for most Canadians, who will see their real purchasing power erode as exporters buy their way back to recapturing lost global market share via an ever-more “competitive” exchange rate.
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