From Stephen Gordon comes
this chart:
Gordon notes that the Canadian dollar/yen exchange rate today is pretty much
the same as it was back on September 4, which means that the price of oil has
risen about the same amount in both currencies. Which is a bit weird, given
that Canada is a big oil exporter and Japan is a big oil importer – one
would expect in an environment of rapidly-rising oil prices that the oil exporter’s
currency would outperform, as in fact it did until the beginning of this month
or so.
This chart is also useful for anybody who keeps on insisting that it matters
what currency oil prices are denominated. Clearly, oil has been rising significantly
over the past few months in any currency you care to look at. And the spike
in oil prices over the past couple of weeks is even more pronounced in (strong)
Canadian dollars than it is in (weak) US dollars.