Canadian dollar and business outlook

By Phil Franz-Warkentin

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

At 9:27 a.m. CDT the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.7295 or US$1=C$1.3708, which compares with Wednesday’s close of US$0.7293 or US$1=C$1.3711.

New home sales in Canada were up by 4.8 per cent in July compared to the same month a year ago, according to a report from the Canadian Real Estate Association, although sales were down by 0.7 per cent from the previous month on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Canadian wholesale sales dropped by 0.6 per cent in June compared to the previous month, coming in at C$82.4 billion, according to a report from Statistics Canada. Sales were down in five of the seven subsectors.

Crude oil was stronger in early activity, with West Texas Intermediate crude oil up by 0.95 per cent at US$77.71 per barrel.

The TSX gained 171.77 points to hit 22,931.78 at 9:27 CDT.