Canadian Retail Sales, Leading Indicators fall. CAD mixed in currency trading. | CountingPips Forex Blog

December 18, 2008 - Forex Economic News

Canadian Retail Sales, Leading Indicators fall. CAD mixed in currency trading.

Canadian Retail Sales decreased in October according to the monthly report released by Statistics Canada today. Retail sales decreased by 0.9 percent to C$35.9 billion in October following a revised increase of 0.9 percent in September. The fall in Retail sales was less than economic forecasts were predicting as expectations were for a 1.1 percent decline in Canadian Dollar mixed in currency trading, CAD. October. Core retail sales, excluding automobile sales, fell by 1.1 percent in October following a revised decline of 0.5 percent in September. The decline in core sales just surpassed forecasts expecting a 1.0 percent decline.

Contributing to the slide in the retail sales numbers was a decrease in furniture, home furnishings & electronic stores which fell by 2.1 percent in October. The automotive sector saw a decline of 1.5 percent with gasoline station sales falling by 4.0 percent while clothing & accessories and general merchandise sales also fell by 1.0 percent for the month. Positively contributing to the monthly retail sales were increases in pharmacies & personal care stores and in used and recreational vehicle sales and parts dealers.

Canada's Leading Indicators decline in November.

A separate report from Statistics Canada showed that the Leading Indicators index declined for the third straight month in November. The Leading Indicator Index, which measures future economic activity, fell by 0.7 percent in November following a revised decline of 0.5 percent in October. Five out of the ten measured sectors that make up the leading indicator index showed declines with the other five either increasing or showing no change. Contributing to the overall index decline were decreases in the stock market index by 8.2 percent and the housing index by 5.9 percent. Other notable declines were the US Conference Board indicator which fell by 0.4 percent and the average workweek which fell by 0.3 percent in October. The largest positive contributor to the index was an increase in the money supply by 1.4 percent while furniture & appliance sales saw an increase by 0.6 percent for the month.

Canadian dollar mixed in currency trading.

The Canadian dollar has been mixed today in the currency markets after gaining against the U.S. dollar for most of the week. Today, the Canadian dollar also known as the "loonie", has lost ground verses the U.S. dollar from today's opening exchange rate of 1.1911 to trading at 1.1952 this afternoon in the US trading session at 1:28pm ET. The euro, meanwhile, has fallen verses the loonie in trading today as the EUR/CAD currency pair has declined from 1.7196 to trading at 1.7101. The loonie has gained ground against the Japanese yen as the CAD/JPY has advanced from 73.62 yen per loonie to trading at approximately 74.74 while the Australian dollar has also lost ground to the loonie and the AUD/CAD has fallen from 0.8391 to trading at 0.8331 today.

AUD/CAD Chart - The Australian dollar falling today verses the Canadian dollar in currency trading to below the 21 period simple moving average(Hourly Chart).

Today's Forex Chart

tags: Canada, retail sales, leading indicators, cad, aud/cad , economy

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