Canadian Dollar And Business Outlook

By Commodity News Service Canada

Winnipeg, February 7 – The Canadian dollar opened significantly
stronger against its US counterpart on Friday, gaining over half a cent
early in the session amid stronger-than-expected Canadian economic
data, industry watchers said.
According to Statistics Canada, the Canadian economy added 29,000
jobs in January, which was above the 20,000 job increase economists
were expecting. The unemployment rate also dropped from 7.2% to 7.0%.
Traders were calling for the unemployment rate to drop to 7.1%.
Weaker-than-expected US jobs data was also supportive of the
loonie, brokers said. The US Department of Labour said 113,000 jobs
were added in January, which was well below expectations of an 189,000
job increase.
Gains seen in commodities, including gold and copper, added to the
bullish tone.
At 8:37 CST Friday, the Canadian dollar was at US$0.9100 or
US$=C$1.0989 which compares with Thursday’s North American close of
US$0.9033, or US$=C$1.1070.
The TSX was down 26.66 points Friday morning at 8:37 CST, to sit
at 13,740.06.