[BRIEF NOTE] How high will it go?

Thanks to Jerry for alerting me to the news that, for the first time ever, the Canadian dollar is now worth $1.10 American.

The Canadian dollar's meteoric rise accelerated this week, rising two cents in less than 24 hours.

The loonie broke through the US$1.10 barrier in overseas trading Wednesday, initially hitting the 110.02 cents US mark.

It dropped back down to 109.6 cents US, before taking off again and landing well above US$1.10.

This comes on the heels of yesterday's rise of 1.34 cents US and modern-era record close of 108.52 cents US.

Yesterday, the Bank of Canada's senior deputy governor, Paul Jenkins, warned that the higher exchange rate carried both risks and benefits for Canada, discouraging exports and encouraging imports, decreasing economic growth and increasing wages. The only comfort for Canadians is that we're not alone, as Bloomberg's Agnes Lovasz and Stanley White write in their article "Dollar Slumps to Record on China's Plans to Diversify Reserves".

The dollar fell the most since September against the currencies of its six biggest trading partners after Chinese officials signaled plans to diversify the nation's $1.43 trillion of foreign exchange reserves.

The dollar fell against all 16 of the most-active currencies, declining to the weakest versus the Canadian dollar since the end of a fixed exchange rate in 1950, a 26-year low against the pound and a 23-year low versus the Australian dollar. The New York Board of Trade's dollar index dropped to 75.21 today, the lowest since the gauge started in March 1973.

``Further weakening of the dollar is very likely,'' said Teis Knuthsen, the Copenhagen-based head of foreign-exchange, fixed-income and derivative research at Danske Bank A/S, the Nordic region's second-biggest lender. China may ``diversify out of dollar holdings.''

The U.S. currency slumped to $1.4704 per euro, the lowest since the 13-nation currency debuted in January 1999, before trading at $1.4671 as of 7:15 a.m. in New York, from $1.4557 late yesterday. The dollar dropped the most in two months against the yen, trading as low as 112.87 yen. The euro fell against the yen to 165.84, from 166.99 yesterday.

The U.S. dollar index may be due for a reversal, according to a technical indicator. Its 14-day relative-strength measure fell to 21.38 today, below the 30 mark, which may signal the currency's decline has bottomed out.

[. . .]

``We will favor stronger currencies over weaker ones, and will readjust accordingly,'' Cheng Siwei, vice chairman of China's National People's Congress, told a conference in Beijing. The dollar is ``losing its status as the world currency,'' Xu Jian, a central bank vice director, said at the same meeting.

The dollar also fell to an all-time low against the synthetic euro, a theoretical value that estimates where the currency would have traded before its inception. The prior record was $1.4557 set in 1992.

The U.S. currency may weaken to between $1.48 and $1.50 against the euro by year-end, Knuthsen said.

Chinese investors have reduced their holdings of U.S. Treasuries by 5 percent to $400 billion in the five months to August. China Investment Corp., which manages the nation's $200 billion sovereign wealth fund, said last month it may get more of the nation's reserves to invest to improve returns.

As for me, all that I can say is that a Canadian dollar that has a new, more-or-less stable exchange rate with the American dollar well in excess of par is a big change--I'm not sure if it has ever been near par in my lifetime. Here's to hoping that everything doesn't fall apart.

[LINK] Glatze's Odyssey

In New York City's Gay City News, Paul Schindler's article "The Life and Death of A Young Gay American" details the interestingly bizarre transformation of Michael Glatze, an American who once edited the Halifax-based Young Gay America, into a vocal ex-gay/anti-gay. For further reading, check out the blog posting "An Open Letter To Michael Glatze" and the post's comments.

[URBAN NOTE] More on Crystal Blu

In September, I wrote about the radical changes soon to be visited on the southeastern corner of the intersection of Yonge and Bloor in downtown Toronto, now that the eighty-story Crystal Blu Condominiums tower is slated to replace a pleasant cluster of shops and restaurants. Today, local media--like the Globe and Mail--have reported that the competition for condominiums in these tower has begun.

Toronto's real estate market reached a new high - or low, depending on your point of view - this week as more than 60 people set up temporary camp on Bloor Street to spend eight nights awaiting the opening of the One Bloor sales office.

When those doors open at noon next Tuesday, the people in line will give up their places in line to dozens of real estate agents who will have first option on the $850-a-square-foot units. Many expect the 80-storey tower to sell out on that brokers-only day.

It may not be the large, high-end apartments that are in hottest demand: Tradeworld real estate agent Winston Mak said the smaller, lower-priced units are generally easier to sell. That makes them hot commodities for anyone thinking of flipping.

Mr. Mak will spend most of the coming week surrounded by road construction, frustrated pedestrians and curious onlookers so he can buy units for two Toronto clients and one for himself. That's the maximum purchase, and he is hoping to snare for himself a unit that's "hopefully not too big."

The sidewalk campout began Monday morning when ReMax real estate agent Hersh Litvack and Royal LePage agent Anna Cass sought to catch their rivals unawares by starting the expected queue at an unexpected time: eight days before the sales event.

Eleven people were set up in camp chairs and given sleeping bags, umbrellas and food money. The building that houses the sales centre - a few doors east of where the condo tower is to stand - objected and had the rudimentary camp moved to a nearby alley that afternoon. But it was moved back to the sidewalk yesterday, and is likely to stay there until noon next Tuesday under the watchful gaze of security guards.

This demonstrates at least part of the ongoing boom in condominium construction in Toronto (1, 2, 3), driven by the reality that a downtown Toronto that is already densely populated has to turn to condominiums if its population is to continue to grow and the GTA avoid a sort of doughnut structure, with a depopulated and often dysfunctional city surrounded by relatively prosperous suburbs.

Leaving the larger context of the Crystal Blu tower aside, it will be a spectacular addition to the Toronto skyline, a will be a "275-metre skyscraper, tall, skinny and sleekly sculptural, [including] shops at street level, an eight-storey hotel and residential [units] above."