Loonie Sees Minor Gains Amid Slumping Oil Prices and Rising US Jobless Rate

The Canadian dollar experienced a minor uptick on Friday morning as its US counterpart retreated. At 8:36 am CDT, the loonie was valued at US$0.7024 or US$1=C$1.4237, marginally higher than Thursday's close of US$0.7021 or US$1=C$1.4243.

The US Dollar Index also pulled back 0.218 points to 101.665.

Crude oil prices dipped on the news that the Trump administration asked the European Union to release more diesel fuel reserves, with West Texas Intermediate dropping to US$89.32 per barrel and Brent crude falling to US$99.70 per barrel.

Despite a slight increase in jobs, the US unemployment rate ticked up 0.1% to 4.2% in September, according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics.