By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, October 2 – The Canadian dollar was slightly firmer against its US counterpart at midday Thursday, just one day before September job numbers were due to be released in the US.
There is growing speculation the US Federal Reserve could raise the interest rate by the middle of next year.
The number of Americans attempting to collect US employment benefits dropped 8,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted number of 287,000.
Saudi Arabia cut its official selling price for crude oil to the US., Europe and Asia.
The December copper contract was down five cents at US$2.99 a pound, as a result of weak economic information coming in from China. The November crude oil contract fell $0.86 to hit US$89.89 a barrel. December gold rose US$2.00 to $1,217.50 an ounce.
At 11:55 CDT Thursday, the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.8973 or US$1.1145, which compares with Wednesday’s North American close of US$0.8951, or US$=$1.1172.
At 11:55 CDT Thursday, the Toronto Stock Exchange was down 236.17 points to sit at 14,569.27.
