Canadian Dollar Slides As Crude Oil Prices Slide

The Canadian dollar weakened against other major currencies in the early European session on Thursday, as crude oil prices fell extending recent losses, as data showing an unexpected big jump in crude inventories outweighed possible supply disruptions due to Hurricane Milton and Middle East tensions.

West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended down $0.33 or about 0.45% at $73.24 a barrel.

Brent crude futures settled at $76.58 a barrel, down $0.60 or about 0.78%.

Data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed crude inventories jumped by 5.8 million barrels to 422.7 million barrels last week, nearly three times the expected increase of about 2 million barrels.

A downward revision by EIA in its demand forecast for 2025 weighed as well on oil prices. The EIA is citing economic slowdowns in China and North America as the reasons for the downward revision in its oil demand forecast.

Traders remain cautious ahead of the release of key U.S. inflation readings that could influence the Fed's rate trajectory. Fed Minutes said a 50-bps rate cut was backed by the majority of officials. Meanwhile, investors now see the Fed lowering interest rates by a quarter point in November instead of a jumbo rate cut.

In the European trading now, the Canadian dollar fell to nearly a 2-month low of 1.3723 against the U.S. dollar, from an early high of 1.3705. The loonie may test support near the 1.39 region.

Against the euro and the Australian dollar, the loonie slid to a 9-day low of 1.5008 and a 3-day low of 0.9240 from early highs of 1.4992 and 0.9204, respectively. If the loonie extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 1.51 against the euro and 0.94 against the aussie.

The loonie edged down to 108.63 against the yen, from an early high of 109.09. On the downside, 110.00 is seen as the next support levels for the loonie.

Looking ahead, the European Central Bank publishes the account of the monetary policy meeting of the governing council held on September 11 and 12, at 7:30 am ET. At the meeting, the bank had lowered its key interest rates by 25 basis points.

In the New York session, U.S. CPI data for September and U.S. weekly jobless claims data are slated for release.