The US dollar index is taking advantage of the Chinese Spy Balloon incident and an increase in the employment rate

Today's expected range for the Canadian Dollar against the major currencies:

US Dollar        1.3375-1.3475

Euro               1.4400-1.4500

Sterling          1.6150-1.6250

WTI Oil (opening level) $73.90

The US Dollar index is higher this morning as the markets continue to react to the jaw dropping employment numbers from Friday. The US economy created over 500,000 new jobs last month which was much higher than the expected 250K that economists were looking for. With this kind of numbers, the markets will now expect the Fed to keep raising interest rates and they should settle in above 5% and then the question will be how long will they remain at those levels? The Dollar is also getting some benefit from the mess that is the Chinese Spy Balloon incident as markets are also waiting to see what China's reaction to the shooting down of the balloon is.

The Turkish Lira took a big hit as a 7.7 magnitude earthquake damaged the country and the Turkish Lira traded at a rate of 18.85 to the US Dollar which is an all-time low.

The Canadian Dollar is weaker this morning against the Greenback as USD.CAD jumped higher to trade at 1.3440 (0.7440) before pulling back a little strength to open the day near the 1.3410 (0.7457) level. On a positive note, the Loonie picked up a good deal of strength against the Euro and Pound so overall not a bad start to the week for our Dollar.

It is a big week for the Loonie on the economic calendar as we get trade data, a Bank of Canada governor's speech and then the Employment report for January on Friday. Stocks are in for another tough day so look for the US Dollar to remain supported over the next couple of days.