Canadian dollars
The Canadian dollar gained ground against the greenback Tuesday amid an announcement from the U.S. Federal Reserve that it would leave interest rates unchanged.
The loonie moved up 0.11 of a cent to 99.35 U.S. cents despite lower crude oil prices.
Along with leaving rates near zero, the Fed said it will maintain the pace of its $600-billion (U.S.) Treasury bond-buying program because the slowly improving U.S. economy is still too weak to bring down high unemployment.
Some analysts had thought the Fed would acknowledge that the immediate outlook looks better since U.S. President Barack Obama agreed to compromise with Republicans to extend tax cuts for all Americans.
However, "there was no mention of the improved economic outlook stemming from the tax cut deal, possibly because it's not a done deal yet, and the Fed wouldn't want to commit itself," observed Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.
The U.S. dollar had earlier been under pressure following a warning from credit rating agency Moody's Investor Services that the United States could have a "negative" outlook put on its triple-A rating if it doesn't get a handle on borrowing over the coming two years.
The warning comes as legislation extending Bush-era tax cuts headed toward passage in the Senate.
But the greenback strengthened mid-morning after data were released showing that retail sales rose for a fifth straight month in November, as the biggest jump in department store sales in two years gave the holiday shopping season a strong start. Retail sales increased 0.8 per cent last month, the U.S. Commerce Department said Tuesday.
Excluding autos, sales rose 1.2 per cent - the best showing since last March.
Oil prices slipped as traders look to weekly U.S. crude inventory figures for signs demand could be improving.
The January crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was off 33 cents at $88.28 a barrel.
The March copper contract on the Nymex was up a slight fifth of a cent at $4.21 a pound.
February gold headed $6.30 higher to $1,404.30 an ounce.