By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, January 14 – The Canadian dollar was little changed against its American counterpart at midday Wednesday, as gloomy forecasts for economic growth sent commodities plunging.
The loonie was at US$0.8366 or US$1 = C$1.1953 at 11:40 CST Wednesday morning.
A report by the World Bank indicated the strengthening US economy would not be able to offset the economic slowdown gripping several major economies.
Lower incomes in the oil patch may not be felt right away but are expected to hurt other parts of Canada down the road, said an official with the Bank of Canada.
American oil inventories jumped 5.4 million barrels last week which was dramatically higher than the 1.75 million barrels that had been forecast.
On the commodity markets the February crude contract in New York was down US$0.25 at US$49.42 a barrel. March copper was down 11 cents to US$2.54 a pound while the February gold contract jumped 4.30 to US$1,238.70 an ounce.
At 11:40 CST Wednesday morning, the Toronto Stock Exchange was down 264.82 points to 13,922.34.
