The Canadian dollar sank versus the greenback Friday on the back of weak economic data and after trade negotiators missed House Speaker Paul Ryan’s deadline for a new NAFTA deal.
The loonie was down 0.84% to 1.2910 per US dollar at 10:07 a.m. ET.
The country’s retail sales jumped the most in five months in March, Statistics Canada data showed Friday, but the rise was driven by auto sales. Without the auto sector, retail sales actually dropped 0.2%.
On top of that, inflation numbers were mostly below or in-line with estimates. Prices rose at a 2.2% year-over-year clip, missing the 2.3% print that economists had predicted. While still above the Bank of Canada’s target rate of 2%, the lower-than-anticipated rate raised expectations the central bank will hold rates steady this month.
Uncertainty around a new NAFTA deal is also weighing on the loonie.
