When 2017 got underway, the US dollar was worth 1.3459 against the Canadian dollar – a long way from parity. But by the end of the first week of the New Year, the US currency had dropped to 1.3258. Did this give a sign to what was to come this year?
Certainly, another fall in week two of January, this time to 1.3141, seemed to indicate there could be rough times ahead. There were further ups and downs in January though, and we eventually saw the American currency finish the month on 1.3069.
Fast-forward one month and February ended with the US dollar in a better position against the Canadian dollar. By that time, it had improved to 1.3196, edging ahead by more than one cent. By 9th March, the American currency was doing better still, having risen to 1.3526 by that point. But we know a lot can happen in a month, and the end of March saw the US dollar dipping to 1.3343 against the Canadian dollar. By now, the Canadian currency was doing better than the American version of the dollar, when compared to the year-opening rate.
But April was to be a more encouraging month for the US currency, as we saw in some steadily-improving rates. Not every day was memorable for the right reasons, but many days went the way of the American currency. That meant the US dollar had risen to 1.3645 at the end of the month – far above the stage it had been at when 2017 began.
When Friday 13th May rolled around, it was far from the bearer of bad news for the US dollar. In fact, the opposite was true, as it achieved a rate of 1.3737 against the Canadian dollar. Unfortunately, this could not be sustained, and the American dollar was back to 1.3464 by the end of May.
By June, things were looking very different indeed. The American currency had some struggles that month, so it was perhaps no major surprise to see the Canadian dollar pushing it back to a closing exchange rate of 1.2955 that month. The big surprise was how far it dipped.
The news got worse still in July, the last month we have complete information for at this point. By the end of Monday 31st, the US dollar had fallen to 1.2471. While we are approaching the end of August, we have a couple more days to trade before the picture becomes clear. Yet with a closing rate of 1.2466 for the US currency versus the Canadian dollar, it looks as though the Canadian currency is firmly in the driving seat at the moment at least.