UPDATE: The dollar closed today at 88.83 cents (U.S.).
Lower oil prices are being blamed for driving the Canadian dollar to a five-year low.
The loonie dropped to a low of 87.83 cents (U.S.) at one point, having hit a high of 88.58 cents and is sitting at just above the 88-cent mark this morning.
“We’ve seen a collapse in oil prices on the demand and supply outlook,” chief currency strategist Camilla Sutton of Bank of Nova Scotia told the Globe and Mail. She pointed out the slump helped drive the loonie to a five-year low and Norway’s krone to its lowest in about four-and-a-half years.