Canadian dollar and business outlook

Glacier FarmMedia | MarketsFarm — The Canadian dollar was stronger Friday morning, trading at its highest level in two months relative to its United States counterpart.

At 8:56 a.m. CST the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.7064 or US$1=C$1.4158 which compares with Thursday’s close of US$0.7021 or US$1=C$1.4242.

Canadian manufacturing sales were up 0.3 per cent in December compared to the previous month, at C$71.4 billion, with gains in 12 of 21 subsectors, reported Statistics Canada.

Meanwhile, wholesale trade in Canada dipped by 0.2 per cent in December to C$83.6 billion. The largest decrease was in the machinery, equipment and supplies subsector.

Crude oil was firm in early trade, with West Texas Intermediate crude oil up by 0.41 per cent at US$71.58 per barrel.

The TSX was down by 24.05 points at 8:56 CST to trade at 25,674.46.