Loonie climbs to one-year high

While many Canadians were home from work and eating turkey dinner for Thanksgiving, the loonie surged to a new one-year high on Monday.

The Canadian dollar continued its recent rise by climbing to an intraday highof 96.93 centsUS, the highest it's been since September 2008.

The currency's rise was helped by unexpectedly strong Canadian employment numbers for September, when 30,000 new jobs were created, sending the unemployment rate down to 8.4 per cent from 8.7 per cent in August.

The dollar was also helped bya Bank of Canada business outlook survey, which found that companies are facing easier credit conditions for the first time in two years and are expressing greater optimism regarding their future prospects.

Canadian financial markets were closed on Monday for the Thanksgiving holiday.