RTTN: Canadian Dollar Advances Against Majors Amid GDP Data
(RTTNews) - During New York morning trading on Thursday, the Canadian dollar advanced against major opponents after the release of Gross Domestic Product or GDP in July. Economic activity in Canada slowed in July for the first time in nearly a year, official data showed today.
Real gross domestic product edged down 0.1% in July, the first monthly decline since August 2009, according to Statistics Canada. GDP rose 0.2% in June.
Manufacturing, retail and wholesale trade, construction and forestry all posted decreases in August, offsetting increased activity in mining and some financial industries.
Manufacturing decreased 0.7% in July, as production of pharmaceutical and paper products tailed off.
The loonie traded higher against the US dollar and hit a 3-day high of 1.0233 by about 8:55 am ET. As of now, the pair is trading at 1.0248, compared to yesterday's close of 1.0328.
From the economic front, the U.S. Commerce Department released a report today showing an unexpected upward revision to its estimate for second quarter GDP growth.
The Commerce Department said that second quarter GDP increased at an annual rate of 1.7 percent compared to the 1.6 percent growth estimated last month. The upward revision came as a surprise to economists, who had expected GDP growth to remain unchanged at 1.6 percent.
According to a report released by the U.S. Labor Department today, the initial jobless claims fell to 453,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 469,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 457,000 from the 465,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Additionally, continuing claims, a reading on the number of people receiving ongoing unemployment help, fell to 4.457 million in the week ended September 18th from the preceding week's revised level of 4.540 million.
Against its Japanese counterpart, the loonie soared up further and presently trading at 81.43 from Asian session's 3-week low of 80.52. The loonie-yen pair closed Wednesday's North American session at 81.10.
The Canadian currency also showed strength against the euro and the Australian dollar in today's New York morning. As of now, the loonie is trading at 1.3386 aganist the euro and 0.9962 versus the Aussie from early lows of 1.4104 and 1.0010, respectively.
