Canadian dollar and business outlook

By Phil Franz-Warkentin

Glacier FarmMedia MarketsFarm – The Canadian dollar was slightly softer Thursday morning.

At 8:52 a.m. CDT the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.7410 or US$1=C$1.3495, which compares with Wednesday’s close of US$0.7423 or US$1=C$1.3472.

Manufacturing sales in Canada were up by 0.2 per cent in January, hitting C$71.1 billion, according to a report from Statistics Canada. Sales were up in 11 of 21 subsectors, with the transportation equipment and chemical subsectors seeing the largest increases at 4.3 per cent and 3.5 per cent respectively.

Crude oil saw continued strength after Wednesday’s outlook from the International Energy Agency predicting a supply deficit in 2024. West Texas Intermediate crude oil was up by 1.20 per cent at US$80.68 per barrel.

The TSX was weaker, losing 154.56 points at 8:52 CDT to trade at 21,815.55 points.