The Canadian dollar continued to slip Friday morning amid reports of four new SARS cases in Toronto, worries about mad cow disease in Alberta, and a Statistics Canada report indicating possible cooling of inflation.

The currency is at US72.49¢, down US0.20¢ from Thursday’s close, the biggest one-day drop since 1976.

Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar continued to weaken elsewhere. Stocks of currency-sensitive companies in Europe fell as the euro rose toward its 1999 launch level against the U.S. dollar.

In the U.S., House and Senate tax writers approved and passed a US$350-billion economic package that includes relief for many businesses and “every American taxpayer,” the Wall Street Journal reported this morning. American investors have the most to gain — the bill reduces the top tax rate on stock dividends and capital gains to 15%.

Wall Street index futures are slack this morning, ahead of what is expected to be a light trading day before the Memorial Day long weekend.

Overseas, London’s FT-SE 100 index slipped 17.8 points to 3,972.6, and in overnight trading Tokyo’s Nikkei stock average closed up 133.10 points, or 1.65%, to 8,184.76. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index rose 172.24 points, or 1.9%, to 9,303.73, and South Korea’s main index gained 2.7%, following gains Thursday on Wall Street.

This morning the World Health Organization removed its travel advisory issued on April 2 that cautioned people to postpone all but essential travel to Hong Kong and the Guangdong Province in China to minimize the spread of SARS.

Chief Executive of Hong Kong Tung Chee Hwa welcomed the decision, calling it “a very good decision for Hong Kong.”