Canadian dollar and business outlook

By Phil Franz-Warkentin

Glacier FarmMedia MarketsFarm – The Canadian dollar was holding relatively steady Friday morning.

At 8:34 a.m. CDT the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.7296 or US$1=C$1.3706, which compares with Thursday’s close of US$0.7298 or US$1=C$1.3702.

Retail sales in Canada decreased by 0.2 per cent in March, coming in at C$66.4 billion, according to a report from Statistics Canada. Core retail sales, which exclude fuel vendors and motor vehicle sales, were down by 0.6 per cent from the previous month.

Crude oil was taking back some of Thursday’s losses in early activity, with West Texas Intermediate crude oil up by 0.48 per cent at US$77.24 per barrel.

The TSX was stronger, up 87.43 points at 8:34 CDT to trade at 22,288.22 points.