By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, June 19 – The Canadian dollar was lower against its US counterpart at midday Friday, as disappointing retails sales data weighed down the loonie.
The loonie was at US$0.8145 or US$1 = C$1.2270 at 11:40 CDT Friday morning. A new report shows retail sales dropped 0.1% to a seasonally adjusted 42.48 billion dollars in April. That is significantly below traders’ expectations of a 0.7% gain. Retail sales also fell 0.2% in April.
The slide in oil prices was also putting pressure on the Canadian dollar, according to an analyst.
Most of the world’s economic community will be watching Greece this weekend to see whether or not a deal gets struck between the country and its creditors. The latest indication is that Russia may consider loaning Greece the money it needs to make a bridge payment and ward off a default.
On the commodity markets the August crude contract in New York decreased US$1.22 to US$59.60 a barrel. The August gold contract rose 0.20 to US$1,202.40 an ounce.
11:40 CDT Friday morning, the Toronto Stock Exchange was down 58.89 points to 14,710.55.
