By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, – The Canadian dollar dropped against its American counterpart at midday Thursday, as oil prices slid towards US$40 a barrel.
The loonie was at US$0.7846 or US$1 = C$1.2745 at 11:40 CDT Thursday morning. There are fears that oil storage space in the US is becoming full, which could depress prices even more.
The loonie had jumped Wednesday afternoon after the US Federal Reserve indicated it was in no hurry to hike the interest rate.
Alberta is facing a deficit scenario that appears to be much worse than initially thought. The current estimate of a C$7-billion budget shortfall may not be realistic, according to analysts.
On the commodity markets the April crude contract in New York fell 1.04 to US$45.61 a barrel. The April gold contract rose US$18.10 to US$1,169.40 an ounce.
At 11:40 Thursday morning, the Toronto Stock Exchange was down 89.44 points to 14,872.80.
