Canadian dollar and business outlook

By Commodity News Service Canada

WINNIPEG, August 27 – The Canadian dollar strengthened against
its US counterpart Thursday morning as crude oil prices gained, and
Statistics Canada released second quarter financial statistics for
enterprises and a report on farm product prices.

At 8:50 a.m. CDT the Canadian dollar was at US$0.7531 or C$1.3278
which compares with Wednesday’s North American close of US$0.7506,
or C$1.3322.

On Thursday at 8:50 a.m. the October crude contract was up
US$1.45 at US$40.11 a barrel.

In Canadian economic data, corporations earned C$80.9 billion
in operating profits in the second quarter, up 12.9 per cent from
the previous quarter, Statistics Canada said in a report on Thursday.

In the non-financial sector, the oil and gas extraction industry
posted an operating loss for the second consecutive quarter. The
industry lost C$379 million in the second quarter, after losing C$1.2
billion in the first quarter, StatsCan says.

According to StatsCan, operating revenues increased 5.4 per
cent to C$36.8 billion on the strength of rallying crude oil prices
toward the end of the quarter.

The Farm Product Price Index (FPPI) increased 4.4% in June
compared with June 2014, mainly as a result of higher cattle and grain
prices. This was the 11th consecutive year-over-year increase, with
gains beginning in August 2014 mainly because of higher livestock
prices, StatsCan says.

The TSX was stronger in early activity, up 156.48 points at 8:50
a.m. CDT to sit at 13,534.07.