Canadian Dollar and Business Outlook: Loonie retaking lost ground
Weakness in greenback
By Glen Hallick
Glacier FarmMedia | MarketsFarm – The Canadian dollar tacked on about a tenth of a cent Friday morning, as its United States counterpart stepped back.
As of 8:39 am CDT, the loonie was at US$0.7243 or US$1=C$1.3805 compared to Thursday’s close of US$0.7231 or US$1=C$1.3829. On the U.S. Dollar Index, the greenback retreated 0.654 of a point at 97.650.
Benchmark crude oil prices were weaker on Friday morning, due to an unexpected increase in U.S. inventories and the likelihood of OPEC+ increasing its production come October.
West Texas Intermediate lost US$1.35 at US$62.13 per barrel and Brent crude oil gave up US$1.32 at US$65.67 per barrel.
Statistics Canada reported on Friday that the country’s unemployment rate rose to 7.1 per cent in August from 6.9 per cent in July. StatCan said about 66,000 jobs were lost last month.
The TSX/S&P Composite Index broke through 29,000 points this morning as it advanced 159.39 points at 29,075.28.
Gold rose US$29.50 at US$3,636.20 per ounce.
