Relief at China's intervention to steady its markets was short-lived, but US stock index futures pared earlier losses. US crude prices fell 0.84 percent to $36.45 a barrel, while Brent crude lost 1.18 percent to $36.78.
At 9:19 a.m. EST (1419 GMT), the Canadian dollar was trading at C$1.3938 to the greenback, or 71.75 US cents, slightly firmer than Monday's close of C$1.3941, or 71.73 US cents.
The currency's strongest level of the session was C$1.3898 and its weakest level was C$1.3955. It hit its weakest level in more than 11 years on Dec. 18 at $1.4003.
Against the euro, the Canadian dollar firmed to C$1.4946, its strongest level since mid-December. Euro zone core inflation slowed for the second month in a row in December, a big headache for the European Central Bank.
Canadian producer prices unexpectedly fell 0.2 percent in November from October, data from Statistics Canada showed. It was the fourth consecutive monthly decline.
Canadian government bond prices were higher across the maturity curve, with the two-year up 0.5 Canadian cent to yield 0.469 percent and the benchmark 10-year rising 5.5 Canadian cents to yield 1.392 percent.
The Canada-US two-year bond spread was little changed at -85.1 basis points after narrowing on Monday as Treasuries outperformed on a flight to quality.
Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz will speak on Thursday in Ottawa. Market players are hoping for clarity on the policy outlook ahead of the Canadian central bank's interest rate announcement and monetary policy report on Jan. 20.
Canada is scheduled to release trade data for November on Wednesday and its December employment report on Friday.