The Canadian dollar was lower Monday, dragged below the 85 cent US level because of continuing weakness in the price of oil, which dropped below $50 US a barrel for the first time since 2009.
The plunging oil price hammered the Toronto Stock Exchange, which was off by more than three per cent or 380 points at midday. Commodity-based shares were especially hard hit, with the energy subindex off six per cent and metals and mining off more than four.
The loonie dropped to its lowest point since May 2009 on Monday, changing hands at 84.90. Much of that is because of strength in the U.S. dollar — as opposed to weakness in the loonie — because the U.S. greenback has been gaining ground against virtually every other world currency for several weeks now.
The euro hit a nine-year low against the U.S. dollar on Monday, trading under 1.20 for the first time since 2005.
But some of the loonie's weakness was the same old story: an oil price that can't seem to find a bottom.
The price for a barrel of the benchmark North American oil known as WTI lost $2.50 on Monday and briefly traded as low as $49.95 a barrel.
That's the first time oil has been that low since the summer of 2009, when the world economy was just starting to come out of a devastating recession.
