Canadian Dollar And Business Outlook

By Commodity News Service Canada

Winnipeg, July 23 – The Canadian dollar was higher against its American counterpart Thursday morning, as gains in commodities and fresh retail sales data boosted the market.

At 8:50 CDT Thursday morning, the loonie was up 0.0024 of a cent to US$0.7698 or US$1 = C$1.2990. According to a new report, Canadian retails sales rose 1.0% in May due to stronger sales of new cars and gasoline.

Loblaws has announced plans to close 52 unprofitable stores across the country. Rogers Communications Inc. recorded a 10% decrease in second-quarter net income on Thursday but says it has also added more customers than expected.

On the commodity markets the September crude contract in New York fell US$0.17 to US$49.36 a barrel. The August gold contract climbed $3.20 to US$1,094.70 an ounce.

At 8:50 CDT Thursday morning, the TSX was down 0.97 points to 14,301.68.