Low oil prices have negatively affected economic forecasts for the Canadian economy this year, after crude oil has fallen from $76 in November down to $52 at the moment. The price did fall as low as $42 per barrel at its lowest point.

The recent improvement has aided CAD exchange rates, and this will be welcomed by CAD bulls as some weak Retail Sales data was released yesterday.

Canadian Retail Sales fell by 0.9% between October and November, mostly owing to lower petrol prices and lower car/car parts sales. This disappointing data follows some weak data released on Tuesday when it emerged that factory sales, and wholesale trade both dropped by more than expected in November.

Stephen Poloz, the Governor of the Bank of Canada has remained bullish in his commentary of the Canadian economy and he last spoke just yesterday. He did highlight the issue of low oil prices though so I believe that if oil continues to recover from it’s almost 45% drop at the end of last year, we’re likely to see CAD exchange rates climb.

Exchange rates on this page are interbank rates and indicate where the market is trading to show the performance of a currency pair. They are not indicative of the rates which we offer. The information on this web site is provided free of charge for information purposes only. It does not constitute advice to any person on any matter. Foreign Currency Direct plc. ("FCD") makes every reasonable effort to ensure that this information is accurate and complete but assumes no responsibility for and gives no warranty with regard to the same.