Canadian dollar and business outlook

By Commodity News Service Canada

WINNIPEG, June 8 The Canadian dollar strengthened against its US counterpart on Wednesday, supported by advances in crude oil, and waning hope that the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this summer.

Crude oil futures moved to an eight-month-high in early activity on Wednesday, as supply disruptions and increased demand from China propped up the market.

Those gains were supportive for the commodity-linked Canadian dollar.

A weakening US dollar was also supportive for the loonie.

The greenback lost ground against a bundle of currencies on Wednesday, as many market participants no longer expect the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this summer.

At 8:56 a.m. CDT, the Canadian dollar was at US$0.7893 or C$1.2669 which compares with Tuesday’s North American close of US$0.7830, or C$1.7830.

In Canadian domestic data, the value of building permits issued by municipalities edged down 0.3 per cent to C$6.9 billion in April, Statistics Canada said in a report on Wednesday.

The TSX was stronger in early activity, up 77.26 points at 8:56 a.m. CDT to sit at 14,442.87.