Canadian Dollar and Business Outlook

By Commodity News Service Canada

Winnipeg – April 12/13 – CNS – The Canadian dollar was
trading at a level that was slightly weaker against its US
counterpart at 8:39 CT Friday. Much of the downswing in the value
of the canadian unit reflected weak US economic data, market
watchers said.

The Canadian dollar eased against its U.S. counterpart after
a weak reading of US retail sales pulled investors back into the
safety of the greenback.

Retail and food service sales in the US declined by 0.4% in
March to a seasonally adjusted $418.28 billion, the US Commerce
Department said, missing expectations of a 0.1% decrease.

US wholesale inflation also declined, falling at a
seasonally adjusted 0.6%, under the 0.4% decline that economists
were expecting.

Some of thwe weakness in the Canadian currency was also
attrib uted to the losses experienced in global crude oil and the
North American equity sector.

At 08:39 CDT Friday, the Canadian dollar was at US$1.0115 or
US$=C$0.9886, which compares with Thursday’s North American close
of US$1.0144 or US$=C$0.98.58.

The TSX was down 105.00 points at 08:39 CDT Friday morning
to sit at 12,376.34.
END