Canada’s dollar fell after touching the strongest level in three weeks as comments from German officials that there’s no quick fix for Europe’s sovereign debt crisis eroded appetite for higher-yielding assets. The Canadian currency capped two weeks of gains on Oct. 14 on speculation an economic slowdown in the U.S., the nation’s largest trading partner, won’t be as severe as forecasters previously expected. The loonie, as the currency is known, came within half a cent of trading on a one-for-one basis with its U.S. counterpart today. “The Canadian dollar hit almost parity, then bounced off,” said Sebastien Galy, a senior foreign-exchange strategist at Societe Generale SA in London, in a telephone interview. “That has everything to do with the comments. They said if you think everything is going to be solved at the EU meeting, then you’re wrong.” The Canadian currency fell 0.3 percent to C$1.0131 per U.S. dollar at 7:58 a.m. in Toronto. It touched C$1.0044, the strongest level since Sept. 21. One Canadian dollar buys 98.71 U.S. cents. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said “dreams that are taking hold again now that with this package everything will be solved and everything will be over on Monday won’t be able to be fulfilled,” Steffen Seibert, Merkel’s chief spokesman, said at a briefing in Berlin today. The search for an end to the crisis “surely extends well into next year.” Leaders won’t present a “definitive solution” for the euro region’s debt crisis at the summit in Brussels, Reuters cited German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble as saying. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.2 percent. Futures on crude oil, Canada’s largest export, weakened 0.3 percent to $87 a barrel in New York after climbing as much as 1 percent. To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Fournier in Halifax, Nova Scotia at cfournier3@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dave Liedtka at dliedtka@bloomberg.net

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