Loonie plunges, gas prices drop, price of oil collapses

TORONTO, ON., March 9, 2020 — The Canadian dollar dropped to a three-year low compared to the U.S. dollar. On Monday morning, the Canadian dollar was trading 1.3 per cent lower at 1.3606 to the American greenback, or 73.50 U.S. cents. The most recent weakest Canadian dollar level was in May 2017 when it hit 1.3760.

Meanwhile, oil prices plunged to almost a third of their value in their biggest drop since the Gulf War in 1991. The drop is the result of Saudi Arabia and Russia threatening to flood an already flooded market with crude oil. As a result, U.S. crude oil dropped nearly 23 per cent at $31.87 a barrel.

On Canada’s main stock index the energy sector in Toronto fell more than 1,000 points in late-morning trading to the lowest level in 14 months, according to a CTV News report based on numbers from Canadian Press.

CTV News reports the S&P/TSX capped energy index was down more than 20 per cent as Suncor Energy Inc. fell $4.26 to $29.26 and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. dropped $6.86 to $23.40. The S&P/TSX composite index was down 1,094.53 points at 15,080.49.

U.S. markets are also down. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 1,517.09 points at 24,347.69. The S&P 500 index was down 170.98 points at 2,801.39, while the Nasdaq composite was down 454.19 points at 8,121.43.

with notes from CTV News