By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, March 18 – The Canadian dollar corrected higher against its American counterpart at midday Wednesday, after briefly dipping to its weakest level in more than six years.
The loonie was at US$0.7839 or US$1 = C$1.2756 at 11:50 CDT Wednesday morning. New data showed that January wholesale trade in Canada fell 3.1 percent, largely due to weak auto sales. Sales decreased in four of the seven main subsectors as well.
US crude oil prices were under pressure again as domestic inventories hit record highs for the 10th straight week. US crude inventories rose to a record 458.5 million barrels as of March 13.
The Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development has reduced its 2015 and 2016 economic growth forecasts for Canada. The Paris-based group estimates Canada’s economy will grow by 2.2 percent this year, but just 2.1 percent next year.
On the commodity markets the April crude contract in New York fell 1.16 to US$42.30 a barrel. The April gold contract rose US$3.10 to US$1,151.30 an ounce.
At 11:50 CDT Wednesday morning, the Toronto Stock Exchange was down 48.86 points to 14,849.67.
