By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, December 15 – The Canadian dollar was lower Monday morning as the US dollar firmed ahead of an interest rate announcement by the US Federal Reserve.
At 8:45 CST Monday morning, the loonie was down 0.0019 of a cent to US$0.8625 or US$1 = C$1.1594. Traders in the US are keenly waiting to hear what the US central bank intends to do regarding short-term interest rates. An announcement is scheduled for Wednesday.
As well, data on US industrial production, housing starts and inflation are also scheduled to be released.
Closer to home, sales activity for existing homes in Canada was flat from October to November, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association.
On the commodity markets the January crude contract in New York rose $0.15 to US$57.96 a barrel. March copper was unchanged at US$2.93 a pound while the February gold contract dipped $13.20 to US$1,209.30 an ounce.
At 8:45 CST Monday morning, the TSX was down 174.07 points to 13,731.05.
