Canadian dollar and business outlook

By Commodity News Service Canada

WINNIPEG, September 4 – The Canadian dollar weakened against
its US counterpart Friday morning as both countries released
employment reports.

At 8:35 a.m. CDT the Canadian dollar was at US$0.7563 or C$1.3222
which compares with Thursday’s North American close of US$0.7579,
or C$1.3194.

Canada’s unemployment rate increased 0.2 percentage points to
seven per cent in August. Prior to August, the unemployment rate had
held steady at 6.8 per cent for six consecutive months, Statistics
Canada said in a report on Friday.

According to StatsCan, an increase in full-time employment was
mostly offset by a decline in part-time work.

In the US, unemployment fell to 5.1 per cent from 5.3 per cent,
the lowest level the country has seen since early 2008.

The TSX was weaker in early activity, down 124.9 points at 8:35
a.m. CDT to sit at 13,471.56.