The Canadian dollar recorded a stronger strengthening against the US dollar on Friday as domestic data showed a more-than-expected reading in retail sales in September.
Canadian retail sales increased by 1.1% in September where general goods sales recorded higher sales. The 1.1% increase far exceeds the expectations of economists who are only targeting a 0.2% increase.
The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.2% to 1.3050 per dollar as of 10.45 p.m. The Canadian currency has strengthened 0.6% since the beginning of this week.
Canada also faces the challenge of increasing Covid-19 cases where positive infection cases could increase to 60,000 by the end of the year.
Moody’s rating agency, however, has rated AAA by saying that the risk of a long-term decline in Canadian economic and fiscal strength from the Covid-19 crisis is low.
The US dollar reacted to the development of the US economic stimulus measures after negotiations were postponed before the next presidential election. The Senate Majority Leader will resume talks with Democrats. However, it was also a concern when US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin stated that CARES emergency loan assistance would not be extended.
This has led to volatile US dollar movements. The US dollar index, which measures the greenback against the major, recorded a slight decline of 0.01% to the exchange rate of 92.87.
