Canadian dollar and business outlook

Glacier FarmMedia | MarketsFarm — The Canadian dollar continued to weaken relative to its United States counterpart Friday morning, hitting fresh multi-year lows.

At 8:47 a.m. CST the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.7098 or US$1=C$1.4088 which compares with Thursday’s close of US$0.7129 or US$1=C$1.4027.

Canadian manufacturing sales were down by 0.5 per cent in September compared to the previous month, according to a report from Statistics Canada. Meanwhile, wholesale sales were up by 0.8 per cent.

In the U.S. retail sales topped expectations — rising by 0.4 per cent in October, according to the Census Bureau.

Crude oil was weaker, with West Texas Intermediate crude oil down by 1.08 per cent at US$67.96 per barrel.

The TSX was stronger in early activity, gaining 75.39 points at 8:47 CST to trade at 24,974.28.