By Musabbir Mazhar
The CAD/USD exchange rate was at 0.9384, up 9 basis points – The currency pair was stable at the close on Thursday. As the number for initial US jobless claims for the week ending December 27 dropped by 2000 to 339,000 – the demand for the US dollar strengthened.
CAD/USD
China’s manufacturing data was lower in December as HSBC PMI reading came out at 50.5 down from 50.8 in November – that put the Canadian dollar under pressure. The Canadian currency depreciated about 7% in 2013. A particular concern has been the deteriorating current account – Canada had a current account surplus of 1% in 2010 when the Bank of Canada announced that It is increasing the overnight rate – naturally there were inflows of currency into the country but that has faded away in the past few years – now Canada has a current account deficit of 3% – a big reason is the decline in the manufacturing industry and manufacturing employment as well.
Goldman Sachs short the currency pair –cad/usd and expects it to be at 0.88 at the end of the year.
The S&P/TSX fell 0.20% to 13,594.19 at the close of markets on Thursday. The S&P 500 closed down to 1831.98 (-0.9%). DJIA fell 135.31 points on the first day of trading in 2014 to 16,441.35. The Nasdaq composite index dipped 0.8% to close at 4,143.07.
WTI crude fell about 3% to $95.44 – this is the biggest one day drop in more than a year. Brent dropped sharply to $107.78 from its previous close of $110.80 per barrel. Markets reacted on the news that Libya’s oil supply was boosted for the year early on than expected; oil supplies from Iran will increase this year as well – as a result increasing the supply In the market.
I$ Investing Street 
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