Key Currency Exchange Rates for Friday, 2/12/21

American Dollar to Canadian Dollar = 0.760624; American Dollar to Chinese Yuan = 0.144761; American Dollar to Euro = 0.999940; American Dollar to Japanese Yen = 0.007121; American Dollar to Mexican Peso = 0.049712.

Futures slipped 0.5 percent in New York after rising 1.2 percent Monday. U.S. refiners closed by Hurricane Harvey more than two weeks ago continue to restart, including the nation’s largest, operated by Motiva Enterprises LLC. The 12 OPEC nations engaged in production cuts reduced their output by 109,000 barrels a day last month, according to a person familiar with the matter. The hurricanes have rattled energy markets, with Irma shutting Florida fuel stations and ports and Harvey earlier halting about one-quarter of the nation’s refining capacity. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. forecasts the two storms will initially hurt crude demand by about 600,000 barrels a day, though the recovery will likely raise consumption and offset that loss. Click Read More below for additional detail.

American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index decreased 4.5% in February after rising 1.8% in January. In February, the index equaled 110 (2015=100) compared with 115.2 in January. “February’s drop was exacerbated, perhaps completely caused, by the severe winter weather that impacted much of the country during the month,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “Many other economic indicators were also soft in February due to the bad storms, but I continue to expect a nice climb up for the economy and truck freight as economic stimulus checks are spent and more people are vaccinated.” January’s gain was revised up slightly to 1.8% from our February 23 press release. Compared with February 2020, the SA index fell 5.9%, which was preceded by a 1.6% year-over-year decline in January. In 2020, the index was 4% below the 2019 average.