By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, August 29 – The Canadian was higher on Friday as data showed that the economy grew more than expected in the second quarter, analysts say.
At 9:16 CDT Friday morning, the loonie was up 0.08 of a cent to US$0.9227 or US$1 = C$1.0857 as Statistics Canada reported gross domestic product ran up at an annual rate of 3.1 per cent, higher than the 2.7 per cent read that economists had expected.
Severe winter weather had impacted first quarter growth and GDP only post a 1.2 per cent gain.
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On a monthly basis, GDP climbed 0.3 per cent in June, in comparison with the 0.2 per cent rise that economists had forecast. This was the highest quarterly gain since the third quarter of 2011.
Traders say that July consumer spending in the U.S. remained lackluster, as auto sales slipped from eight-year highs and retail sales stalled. Spending dropped 0.1 per cent, against the gain of 0.3 per cent that was generally expected.
The Chicago purchasing managers index, a snapshot of manufacturing activity in the American Midwest, will be released later this morning. Traders expect it will show greater expansion during August, rebounding to 56.
Strong stock market performance and falling gasoline prices were expected to spark an upward adjustment in the final estimate of the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index to 81 in August.
At 9:16 CDT Friday morning, the TSX was down 25.12 points to 15,533.05.
