Canadian dollar and business outlook

WINNIPEG, January 8 The Canadian dollar weakened slightly against its US counterpart on Friday, as favourable Canadian jobs data was outpace by the US, but gains in crude oil futures limited losses.

At 8:45 a.m. CST the Canadian dollar was at US$0.7083 or C$1.4118 which compares with Thursday’s North American close of US$0.7094, or C$1.4097.

Non-farm payrolls in the US increased by 292,000 in December, and the previous two months were revised sharply upward, according to the country’s labour department.

Canada’s employment edged up as well, increasing by 23,000 or 0.1 per cent in December, Statistics Canada said in a report on Friday.

The TSX was stronger in early activity, up 61.21 points at 8:45 a.m. CST to sit at 12,509.42.