Canadian dollar and business outlook

Glacier FarmMedia | MarketsFarm — The Canadian dollar was stronger Friday morning.

At 8:38 a.m. CST the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.6981 or US$1=C$1.4325 which compares with Thursday’s close of US$0.6958 or US$1=C$1.4371.

New home prices in Canada dipped slightly in December, with the national new housing price index down 0.1 per cent on the month, according to a report from Statistics Canada. The index was up 0.1 per cent annually.

Early manufacturing data for December show a 0.6 per cent increase in Canadian manufacturing sales, said StatCan, with the full report due out in February.

Crude oil was firm, with West Texas Intermediate crude oil up by 0.44 per cent at US$74.95 per barrel.

The TSX was stronger, up 32.49 points at 8:38 CST to trade at 25,466.57.