By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, July 3 – The Canadian dollar was higher against its US counterpart at midday Thursday, on the strength of positive jobs data.
The US Labour Department says the American economy created 288,000 jobs during June, while the US jobless rate dropped to 6.1% from 6.3%.
The numbers suggest damage to the US economy in the first quarter was contained and the second-quarter should be even better.
New data also surfaced showing Canada’s trade deficit with the world narrowed during May. Statistics Canada reported the figure at C$152 million, down from April’s total of C$961 million. The robust auto sector was credited with helping improve the balance.
The August gold contract fell $9.40 cents to US$1,321.50 an ounce, which was bearish. The August crude oil contract fell $0.50 cents to US$103.98 a barrel.
At 11:50 CDT Thursday, the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.9413 or US$1.0623, which compares with Wednesday’s North American close of US$0.9375, or US$=$1.0667.
At 11:50 CDT Thursday, the Toronto Stock Exchange was up 27.03 points to sit at 15,236.82.
