Canadian GDP grows 0.1% in 2nd Quarter. US Dollar ending the week higher in currency trading | CountingPips Forex Blog

August 29, 2008 - Forex Economic News

Canadian GDP grows 0.3% in 2nd Quarter. US Dollar ending the week higher in currency trading.

The Canadian Gross Domestic Product increased in the 2nd quarter according to a report by Statistics Canada released today reversing the first quarter's decline. Canadian GDP increased in the April to June quarter by an annualized 0.3 percent following a revised decline of an annualized 0.8 percent in the January to March quarter. The 2nd quarter's GDP growth failed to surpass market forecasts predicting a 0.6 percent gain. Contributing to the 2nd quarter GDP gain were increases in the public sector, retail trade, transportation and finance and USD ending the week higher in Currency Trading. insurance. The month of June showed a monthly GDP gain of 0.1 percent following a decline of 0.1 percent in May and equaling economic forecasts. Contributing to June's gain was increases in construction and wholesale trade.

Forex Market: Dollar finishing the week higher verse most majors.

The U.S. dollar has continued to gain in the forex market today and is on its way to finishing higher verses the European euro for the fifth out of the last six weeks. Today, the EUR/USD currency pair has declined from approximately 1.4742 to trading at 1.4671 before the U.S. session close. The U.S. dollar has staged a remarkable rally verses the European currency after the euro reached a record high of 1.6038 dollars per euro on July 15th as the Eurozone has started experiencing slowing economic growth and speculation of impending interest rate cuts.

The American currency is also on its way to closing higher against the Swiss franc for the seventh consecutive weekly close as the USD/CHF has gone from approximately 1.0185 to 1.1010 in that time frame as the USD/CHF pair is trading at its highest level since February. Against the British pound sterling, the dollar is on its way to a sixth straight weekly gain as the GBP/USD traded below 1.8200 today and the pound is trading at its lowest level verses the dollar since July of 2006.

Verses the Australian dollar, the U.S. dollar is on its way higher for the fifth out of the last six weeks while the dollar has reversed two straight weekly declines verses the Canadian dollar to advance this week against the "loonie" and trade above 1.0630 today. The New Zealand "kiwi" dollar has also lost ground to the USD this week, reversing two straight gaining weeks against the American currency as the NZD/USD has declined from 0.7087 to 0.7008 this week.

The Japanese yen is the only major currency to gain ground against the dollar this week as the yen has gained verses the dollar for two consecutive weeks. The USD/JPY pair has declined this week from approximately 110.06 to trading at 108.79 today before the U.S. session close.

GBP/USD Chart - The pound sterling falling today against the dollar in currency trading this week for the sixth straight week and trading at its lowest level vs. the dollar since July 2006(Weekly Chart).

Forex Chart

tags: Canada GDP, Forex Market, USD currency trading

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