Canadian dollar and business outlook

By Commodity News Service Canada

WINNIPEG, November 18 The Canadian dollar weakened against its US counterpart Wednesday morning as markets positioned themselves before the Federal Open Market Committee releases its minutes.

At 8:55 a.m. CST the Canadian dollar was at US$0.7504 or C$1.3326 which compares with Tuesday’s North American close of US$0.7514, or C$1.3304.

At 8:55 a.m. New York mercantile crude oil futures had gained US$0.40 to sit at US$41.07 a barrel.

The Federal Open Market Committee is a branch of the Federal Reserve Board which determines the direction of monetary policy.

Markets are looking to the minutes, which will be released Wednesday afternoon, for indications on whether or not the US will see an interest rate hike before the end of the year.

In Canadian domestic data, the wholesale services price index increased 0.4 per cent in the second quarter, offsetting the decrease in the previous quarter, Statistics Canada said in a report on Wednesday.

The TSX was stronger in early activity, up 83.97 points at 8:55 a.m. CST to sit at 13,364.36.