The Canadian dollar weakened to a near two-week low against its U.S. counterpart on Monday as oil prices fell sharply and investors awaited a Federal Reserve interest rate decision this week.
The loonie was trading 0.2% lower at 1.4115 per U.S. dollar, or 70.85 U.S. cents, after touching its weakest intraday level since July 14 at 1.4119.
The move was driven by the decline in oil prices, said George Davis, chief technical strategist at RBC Capital Markets.
“Prices bounced off of support (in USD-CAD) at 1.4025 last week as well, which is also enticing some USD buyers,” Davis said.
The price of oil, one of Canada’s major exports, fell 7.2% to $82.85 a barrel after the U.S. and Iran paused strikes over the weekend following two weeks of attacks, raising hopes of a diplomatic solution that would de-escalate the conflict and allow shipping to resume in the Strait of Hormuz.
The U.S. dollar steadied against a basket of major currencies ahead of the Fed’s July 28 to 29 policy meeting.
Speculators have trimmed their bearish bets on the Canadian dollar, data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed on Friday.
Non-commercial net short positions edged lower to 174,448 contracts as of July 21 after climbing to 176,279 in the prior week, the highest level since January 2025.
Canadian consumer confidence improved in July, data from Signal49 Research showed on Monday. The Index of Consumer Confidence rose by 8.9 points this month to 67.3, marking the highest level since November 2024.
Canadian GDP data for May, due on Friday, could offer further clues on the state of the domestic economy. Analysts expect a gain of 0.2%.
Canadian government bond yields eased across the curve. The 10-year was down 4.2 basis points at 3.564%, extending its pullback from a two-month high on Thursday at 3.665%.