By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, September 12 – The Canadian dollar slumped against its US counterpart at midday Friday, as the US dollar strengthened amid anticipation the Federal Reserve is thinking about winding down its economic stimulus.
It is widely expected the central bank will move on interest rates by the middle of next year, but analysts are looking for indications this may happen sooner than that.
The Teranet-National Bank Index of Canadian home prices increased. Numbers show the index rose 0.8 percent from July to August. Winnipeg, Ottawa and Toronto recorded the biggest gains.
The University of Michigan’s consumer index rose to 84.6 from 82.5 in August.
The December copper contract was unchanged at US$3.09 a pound. The October crude oil contract gained six cents to US$92.89 a barrel. December gold fell US$6.60 to $1,232.40 an ounce.
At 11:55 CDT Friday, the Canadian dollar was trading at US$0.9028 or US$1.0767, which compares with Thursday’s North American close of US$0.9152, or US$=$1.1047.
At 11:55 CDT Friday, the Toronto Stock Exchange was up 33.53 points to sit at 15,567.85.
