Greenback and Loonie Heads-up

Canadian Dollar Trades Equal to U.S. for First Time Since 1976

Sept. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Canada's dollar traded equal to the U.S. currency for the first time in three decades, capping a five-year run on the back of booming demand for the nation's commodities.

The Canadian dollar rose as high as $1.0008, before retreating to 99.87 U.S. cents at 4:16 p.m. in New York. It has soared 62 percent from a record low of 61.76 U.S. cents in 2002. The U.S. dollar fell as low as 99.93 Canadian cents today. The Canadian currency last closed above $1 on Nov. 25, 1976, when Pierre Trudeau was Canada's prime minister.

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"But let us put all such grim thoughts aside for a moment, that we might offer heartfelt congratulations to our Canadian neighbors, whose currency (aka the “loony”) has finally achieved parity with the U.S. dollar. For the first time in our American lives, prices will no longer be “Slightly higher in Canada.” We should perhaps also offer up a prayer of thanks that it is not (yet) the peso’s parity for which we are congratulating a sovereign neighbor. We can only hope that such depredations against the dollar as would cause it to fall so low have yet to be imagined." ~Rick Ackerman, "Rick's Picks"