Canadian Dollar And Business Outlook

By Commodity News Service Canada

Winnipeg, May 5 – The Canadian dollar was higher against its American counterpart Tuesday morning, amid higher oil prices and surprising economic news.

At 8:58 CDT Tuesday morning, the loonie was up 0.0037 of a cent to US$0.8302 or US$1 = C$1.2045. A new report says the country’s trade deficit grew at a higher-than-expected rate. The study shows the deficit grew to C$3 billion for March as growth in exports failed to match growth in imports.

Brent crude oil rose to US$67 a barrel, which is slightly below its high for the calendar year.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is expected to issue a decision today that could affect how much consumers pay for certain cell-phone fees. The ruling will focus on fees charged to customers when they roam outside of their personal home-network areas.

On the commodity markets the June crude contract in New York rose US$1.74 to US$60.67 a barrel. The June gold contract jumped $9.80 to US$1,1196.60 an ounce.

At 8:58 CDT Tuesday morning, the TSX was down 25.36 points to 15,263.45.