Canadian Dollar And Business Outlook

By Commodity News Service Canada

WINNIPEG, June 3 (CNS Canada) The Canadian dollar strengthened relative to than its US counterpart Friday morning following the US reporting weaker-than-expected jobs data.

The US Labor Department saw the smallest gain since September, 2010, with nonfarm payrolls increasing by only 38,000 last month. Economists had forecast 164,000.

The suggestion of labour market weakness raises doubts the economy is healthy enough to absorb an interest rate hike over the summer.

At 8:36 CDT Friday, the Canadian dollar was at US$0.7732 or US$=C$1.2933, which compares with Thursday’s North American close of US$0.7631 or US$1=C$1.3105.

Canada’s exports increased 1.5 per cent to C$41.8 billion in April, according to Statistics Canada. Export prices were up 1.1 per cent and volumes rose 0.5 per cent. Imports increased 0.9 per cent to C$44.7 billion, as volumes were up 0.8 per cent and prices edged up 0.1 per cent. As a result, Canada’s merchandise trade deficit with the world narrowed from C$3.2 billion in March to C$2.9 billion in April.

The TSX was up 33.41 points, or 0.24 per cent, at 8:36 CDT Friday morning to sit at 14,170.40.