By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, July 29 – The Canadian dollar was sharply lower late-Tuesday morning as the U.S. currency strengthened on the back of a strong reading on consumer confidence, analysts say.
At 11:40 CDT Tuesday morning, the loonie declined 0.46 of a cent to US$0.9213 or US$1 = C$ 1.0851.
The U.S. Conference Board reported that its Consumer Confidence Index jumped to 90.9 in July, up from 85.2 in June. This was the highest level since October 2007, traders say.
Other data showed that home prices rose in May from a year earlier at the weakest pace in 15 months. The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index increased 9.3 per cent in May, down from 10.8 per cent the previous month.
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The U.S. Federal Reserve has also began their two-day meeting on interest rates, and are expected to keep the key interest rate near zero for some time to come, brokers say. Markets have generally expected the Fed to move in mid-2015, however economic performance has improved to a point where there is a potential that the central bank could move earlier, analysts say.
On Wednesday, traders will take in the latest economic growth readings from Canada and the U.S., which will be followed by a report on Thursday on China’s manufacturing industry.
On Friday, the U.S. will release its monthly jobs data. Traders are estimating that the U.S. labour market added between 235,000 and 255,000 jobs in July.
At midday on Tuesday, the Toronto Stock Exchange was up 38.15 points to sit at 15,483.37.
