TORONTO - The Canadian dollar was up slightly Monday morning as the U.S. dollar weakened ahead of an announcement from the U.S. Federal Reserve on new stimulus measures while commodity prices also advanced. The loonie was up 0.14 of a cent to 98.16 cents US at the start of what is likely to be a volatile week with the U.S. midterm elections on Tuesday, the release of the October non-farm payrolls report Friday and the Fed announcement on Wednesday. "The week ahead is packed with event risk globally, but Wednesday’s (Fed) outcome is overshadowing everything," observed Adam Cole, Global Head, FX Strategy for RBC Capital Markets in London. It is widely expected the Fed policy meeting, which ends Wednesday, will announce a Treasury bond buying program, known as quantitative easing, to inject more liquidity into the economy. Questions about the size and duration of such a program have pressured the U.S. dollar recently, since the stimulus measure involves the Fed printing vast quantities of dollars. Commodity prices rose amid a report showing that Chinese manufacturing accelerated in October, raising hopes for higher demand for oil and metals. The state-affiliated China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said its purchasing managers index, or PMI, rose to 54.7 in October from 53.8 September and 51.7 in August. Monthly readings have stayed above 50, the benchmark for expansion, for 20 straight months, it said. A competing index, the HSBC China Manufacturing PMI — a seasonally adjusted index designed to measure the performance of the manufacturing economy — rose to a six month high of 54.8 in October from 52.9 in September. The solid Chinese manufacturing data pushed the December crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange up 78 cents to US$82.21 a barrel. The December copper contract on the Nymex advanced five cents to US$2.78 a pound. Bullion prices also climbed with the December contract up $4.20 to US$1,361.80 an ounce.

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