Canadian Dollar Falls to Two-Week Low on Concern Global Growth Is Slowing

Canada’s dollar dropped to a two-week low against the greenback on speculation slowing global growth may exacerbate U.S. and European debt turmoil.

Canada’s 30-year bond yield fell to a record low 3.20 percent, according to Bloomberg data beginning in December 1990. Canadian employers added fewer net jobs in July, according to the median forecast of 26 economists before an Aug. 5 report from Statistics Canada.

“With this general slowdown in the global economy, it’s the old dollar-smile argument: things are bad enough in the U.S. that the dollar actually looks attractive to investors,” Shaun Osborne, chief currency strategist at TD Securities Inc., a unit of Canada’s second-largest bank, said by phone from Toronto, referring to the U.S. currency. The Canadian dollar “got whacked quite hard late last week,” Osborne said.

The Canadian currency slid 0.4 percent to 96.08 cents per U.S. dollar at 8:40 a.m. in Toronto, from 95.70 cents yesterday. It touched 96.19, the weakest level since July 18. One Canadian dollar buys $1.0409. The loonie, as the currency is also known, slid 0.8 percent last week, the most since June 24.

The greenback rallied today against all of its 16 major counterparts tracked by Bloomberg except the Swiss franc as investors sought refuge from a slowing global economy.

Consumer spending in the U.S., Canada’s biggest trading partner, unexpectedly dropped in June for the first time in almost two years, Commerce Department figures showed today.