NEW YORK (AP) -- For the first time since Gerald Ford was president, the loonie can buy as much as the greenback. The U.S. dollar's recent decline against the Canadian dollar, the euro, and even the Indian rupee, means Americans will pay more for imports and trips to Paris, Rome, Bangalore and Toronto. It also may drive overseas demand for U.S. goods and help raise profits at U.S. multinational corporations.
The U.S. dollar reached 1-to-1 parity against the Canadian dollar Thursday for the first time since November 1976. That means one Canadian dollar now buys one U.S. dollar, so a bottle of maple syrup could cost an American as much in Toronto as it does in New York.
Today's numbers, however, do not mean that the dollar is facing a meltdown.
Thursday's drop is of greater concern to currency markets than U.S. households, except "if you're a connoisseur of French wines or Canadian maple syrup," said David Gilmore, a partner at Foreign Exchange Analytics in Essex, Conn.
A lower dollar makes U.S. exports more competitive, which is good news for American manufacturers but spells rising prices for imports to the U.S. The dollar's decline also diminished the spending power of American tourists while attracting to the U.S. foreign visitors who seek cheaper accommodations and shopping.
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