By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, October 3 – The Canadian dollar was lower Friday morning, due to disappointing domestic trade data and a strong US jobs report.
According to Statistics Canada, the country’s trade balance reached a deficit of C$615 million. That compares to a surplus of $2.2 billion in August. Exports fell 2.5 percent while imports of merchandise gained 3.9 percent.
In contrast, the US Labor Department released numbers showing 248,000 jobs were created last month. That is well above previous expectations of 215,000 jobs.
On the commodity markets, the November crude oil contract dropped $0.38 to US$90.63 a barrel. December copper was unchanged at US$3.00 a pound. December bullion dropped $14.10 to US$1,201.00 an ounce.
At 8:45 CDT Friday, the Canadian dollar was at US$0.8903 or US$=C$1.1232 which compares with Thursday’s North American close of US $0.8951, or US$=C$1.1172.
The TSX was down 44.80 points Friday morning at 8:45 CDT, to sit at 14,760.64.
