From: Tony@TheDeliKing.com   
      
   The Canadian dollar on Monday ended 2018 with its worst annual   
   performance in three years, hitting a 19-month low against its U.S.   
   counterpart earlier in the day before reversing its decline as oil   
   prices and stocks rallied.   
      
   The Canadian dollar was trading nearly unchanged at 1.3635 to the   
   greenback, or 73.34 U.S. cents.   
      
   The currency, which has been pressured in recent months by a sharp drop   
   in the price of oil, one of Canada’s major exports, and volatility in   
   equity markets, hit its weakest intraday level since May, 2017, at 1.3665.   
      
   “It has been a pretty terrible year for the Canadian dollar,” said Rahim   
   Madhavji, president at Knightsbridge Foreign Exchange. “The combination   
   of a flight to safety plus weak oil is a recipe for disaster for the   
   Canadian dollar.”   
      
   For the year, the loonie was down 7.7 per cent, its first decline since   
   2015.   
      
   Stocks were boosted on Monday by signs of progress in the U.S.-China   
   trade dispute, while U.S. crude oil futures settled 0.2 per cent higher.   
   Still, oil has fallen about 40 per cent since October.   
      
   “The fact that oil prices are down quite a bit is something that is   
   going to worry the Bank of Canada,” Madhavji said.   
      
   The central bank has raised interest rates five times since July 2017 to   
   leave its benchmark interest rate at 1.75 per cent. But money markets do   
   not expect any further increases in 2019.   
      
   The U.S. dollar fell against a basket of major currencies in thin   
   year-end trading as increased risk appetite weighed on demand for   
   safe-haven currencies.   
      
   Canadian government bond prices were mixed across a steeper yield curve,   
   with the two-year flat to yield 1.862 per cent and the 10-year falling 8   
   Canadian cents to yield 1.965 per cent   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)