Chart Of The Day: Short This USD/CAD Vicious Cycle

 | Dec 28, 2017 10:02

h3 Canadian Dollar, Oil Break Out To The Upside

On Tuesday, oil provided an upside breakout to a range since early November. Yesterday, the Canadian dollar provided an upside breakout (a downside breakout for USD/CAD) to a range of its own, since late October.

The loonie and oil are positively correlated, as the price of oil affects the exchange rate of the CAD. As an oil exporter, importing countries buy Canadian dollars with which to pay for oil; the higher its price, the more CAD they need to buy for the same amount of oil, whose higher demand will absorb the available currency at current price levels, forcing buyers to up their bids to find willing sellers.