No more jokes about the loonie

After years of jokes about 'Monopoly money', the Canadian dollar - or loonie - is finally getting its own back. The currency is now close to parity with its US counterpart - and could be a better long-term bet.

Canadians have endured "years of American jokes" about Canadian "Monopoly money", as Steven Chase notes in Canada's Globe and Mail. But the Canadian dollar, or loonie, is fighting back: it is now at a 30-year high of around 97 US cents. Parity "here we come", says Dennis Gartman of the Gartman Newsletter.

The loonie has been buoyed by soaring prices for commodities, which account for more than half of Canada's exports. These have created a current account surplus and helped the government balance the budget. Everything Canada produces "is in piping hot demand", says Douglas Porter of BMO Nesbitt Burns. And while US rates are heading down, Canadian ones are likely to stay on hold given recent solid data.

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