Canadian dollar and business outlook

By Phil Franz-Warkentin

Glacier FarmMedia MarketsFarm – The Canadian dollar was holding steady Wednesday morning in thin pre-holiday trade.

At 8:34 a.m. CST Wednesday morning the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.7498 or US$1=C$1.3337, which compares with Tuesday’s close of US$0.7494 or US$1=C$1.3344.

Canada’s unemployment rate edged up 0.2 percentage points in October, hitting 5.7 per cent, according to a report from Statistics Canada. That marked the fourth monthly increase out of the last six months. The number of people receiving regular Employment Insurance (EI) edged up by 0.7 per cent during the month at 443,000.

Crude oil remained underpinned by the possibility of more shipping disruptions through the Red Sea, with West Texas Intermediate crude oil up by 1.38 per cent at US$74.96 per barrel.

The TSX was slightly softer in early trade, down 6.55 points at 8:34 CST, trading at 20,833.08 points.