By MarketsFarm
WINNIPEG, July 22 (MarketsFarm) – The Canadian dollar was slightly firmer Friday morning as domestic retail sales data beat expectations.
At 8:34 a.m. CDT Thursday morning the Canadian dollar was at US$0.7770 or US$1=C$1.2870, which compares with Thursday’s close of US$0.7755 or US$1=C$1.2895.
Canadian retail sales were up by 2.2 per cent in May, hitting C$62.2 billion, according to a report from Statistics Canada. That marked the fifth consecutive rise and beat average pre-report guesses for a 1.6 per cent rise. Core retail sales, which exclude fuel and motor vehicle sales, were up by 0.6 per cent.
Preliminary Statistics Canada manufacturing data for June showed a 1.0 per cent decline in total manufacturing sales in the month. The final report will be released on Aug. 15.
Crude oil was weaker, with West Texas Intermediate down by 0.9 per cent at US$95.42 per barrel.
The TSX was up by 44.70 points at 9:34 CDT, trading at 19,107.55 points.
