Canadian Dollar and Business Outlook: Loonie holding firm
Rail lockout costing C$1 billion/day
By Glen Hallick
Glacier Farm Media MarketsFarm – The Canadian dollar was relatively steady on Thursday morning in a balancing off between upticks in the United States dollar and slight gains in crude oil.
As of 8:36 am CDT, the loonie was at US$0.7353 or US$1=C$1.3596 compared to Wednesday’s close of US$0.7357 or US$1=C$1.3592. On the U.S. Dollar Index, the greenback added 0.235 of a point at 101.145.
Benchmark crude oil prices edged up on Thursday morning as Middle East tensions outweighed concerns over a slowing U.S. economy.
Brent crude oil rose 44 cents at US$76.49 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate tacked on 38 cents at US$72.31.
Canada’s economy will reportedly be greatly impacted by the lockouts at Canadian National Railways and Canadian Pacific Kansas City, with estimated of it losing C$1 billion per day.
Shortly after Thursday’s open the TSX/S&P Composite Index stepped back 73.34 points at 23,048.39.
Gold dropped US$17.50 at US$2,530.00 per ounce.
