By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, April 24 – The Canadian dollar was slightly lower against its US counterpart at midday Friday, as falling commodity prices offset positive earning reports for durable goods and restaurants in North America.
The loonie was at US$0.8220 or US$1 = C$1.2165 at 11:45 CDT Friday morning.
A new report found Canadians spent over $57.5 million at restaurants last year, a nearly 5% rise from 2013. Ontario and Quebec were the two biggest consumers, spending $22.2 million and $10.5 billion, respectively.
US durable goods data was up 4% in March, beating analysts’ estimates.
Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz told delegates at a bank conference in the US that Canada’s economy will recover from the drop in oil prices during the second quarter.
On the commodity markets the June crude contract in New York fell US$0.62 to US$57.12 a barrel. The May gold contract fell US$17.70 to US$1,176.30 an ounce.
At 11:50 CDT Friday morning, the Toronto Stock Exchange was up 24.67 points to 15,417.02.
