July 14 (Bloomberg) -- Canada’s dollar climbed to a three- week high as a report showed home sales increased and earnings at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. beat analysts’ estimates, stoking investor appetite for riskier assets. The currency, which capped six straight weekly losses on July 10, rose for a second day as global and Canadian stocks advanced. A government report showed U.S. retail sales gained more than forecast in June, spurring speculation the steepest recession in 50 years may be easing. “The world is looking a little safer,” said Steve Butler, director of foreign-exchange trading in Toronto at Scotia Capital Inc., a unit of Canada’s third-largest bank. Canada’s currency, known as the loonie, strengthened for a second day, appreciating 1.4 percent to C$1.1343 per U.S. dollar at 4:34 p.m. in New York, from C$1.1505 yesterday. It touched C$1.1338, the strongest level since June 22. One Canadian dollar buys 88.16 U.S. cents. The loonie was the second-best performer today against its U.S. counterpart among the 16 most-active currencies tracked by Bloomberg. Its decline in June and early July, the longest losing streak since December 2007, came on concern a global economic recovery will be delayed. Canada’s dollar performed better than other commodity- linked currencies. The dollars of Australia and New Zealand rose 0.9 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively, against the greenback. Rebound ‘Being Felt’ The MSCI World, a benchmark stock index for 23 developed markets, gained for a second day, increasing 1.2 percent. It posted losses for each of the past four weeks. Canada’s benchmark stock gauge, the Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index, rose 1 percent after two weekly declines. “The equity markets themselves are not significantly stronger, but there is a rebound that is being felt,” said Jack Spitz, managing director of foreign exchange at National Bank of Canada in Toronto. “One gets the sense that investors are looking for opportunities to get in rather than get out.” Second-quarter earnings posted today by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the fifth-biggest U.S. bank by assets, were $3.44 billion, or $4.93 a share, the New York-based bank said. That compared with the $3.65 per-share average estimate of 22 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. ‘Out of the Park’ “Goldman Sachs was viewed as being the bellwether for the financial industry, and it just hit the ball out of the park in terms of its earnings,” said Eric Lascelles, chief economist and strategist at TD Securities Inc. in Toronto, a unit of Canada’s second-biggest bank. “People view the financial world in a slightly rosier light.” Sales of existing homes in Canada rose 8.7 percent in June, the Canadian Real Estate Association said today in Ottawa. It was the fifth month of increases. The average home price advanced 3.6 percent from a year earlier, and the inventory of unsold homes fell to its lowest since August 2007, the association said. U.S. retail sales increased 0.6 percent last month, the biggest gain since January, from 0.5 percent in May. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of 74 economists was for a rise of 0.4 percent. Canadian government bonds declined for a second day. The yield on the 10-year note climbed 11 basis points, or 0.11 percentage point, to 3.43 percent. It touched 3.44 percent, the highest since June 26. The price of the 3.75 percent note maturing in June 2019 dropped 96 cents to C$102.70. Statistics Canada is scheduled to release a government report tomorrow on manufacturing shipments and one on July 17 on consumer prices. Rating Raised Standard Chartered Plc raised its short-term rating on Canada’s dollar to “overweight” from neutral, citing renewed capital flows into the country and diminished “cyclical negatives.” The London-based bank forecast in a note to clients that the currency will appreciate to C$1.05 per U.S. dollar by the end of September. The loonie will rise to C$1.12 against the U.S. dollar by year-end, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 35 economists.

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