Canadian dollar and business outlook

By Phil Franz-Warkentin

Glacier FarmMedia MarketsFarm – The Canadian dollar was softer Thursday morning, as currency traders reacted to soft domestic jobs data.

At 8:54 a.m. CDT the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.7326 or US$1=C$1.3650, which compares with Thursday’s close of US$0.7346 or US$1=C$1.3613.

Employment was virtually unchanged in Canada in June, with the number of people working down by only 1,400, according to Statistics Canada. However, with more people looking for jobs the unemployment rate increased by 0.2 percentage points to come in at 6.4 per cent.

Crude oil was slightly firmer Friday morning, with West Texas Intermediate crude oil up by 0.21 per cent at US$84.06 per barrel.

The TSX was weaker, losing 51.50 points at 8:54 CDT to trade at 22,192.52 points.