Canadian Retail Sales, Leading Indicators fall. Loonie continues to fall in Forex Trading. | CountingPips Forex Blog

October 22, 2008 - Forex Economic News

Canadian Retail Sales, Leading Indicators fall. Loonie continues to fall in Forex Trading.

Canadian Retail Sales decreased in August according to a report by Statistics Canada released today. August retail sales decreased by 0.3 percent to C$35.9 billion following an increase of 0.1 percent in July. The fall in retail sales matched predictions by economic Loonie falls in forex trading forecasts which had expected a decline in the sales numbers by 0.3 percent.

Contributing to the decline in the retail sales numbers was a decrease of 1.8 percent in the automobile industry with gasoline station sales falling by 3.7 percent. Clothing and accessories stores also showed a decrease for the month with a decline of 0.9 percent. Sales in food and beverage stores, general merchandise stores and the building and outdoor home supplies sector also provided positive gains for the month with increases of 0.7 percent, 0.8 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.

Core retail sales or sales minus automobiles decreased in August by 0.3 percent which was below market forecasts predicting no change for the month. Core retail sales in July showed an increase of 0.4 percent.

Canada Leading Indicators decrease in September.

The Canadian Leading Indicators Index released today by Statistics Canada showed a decline in September after five straight months of advances. The Leading Indicator Index, which measures future economic activity, registered a 0.2 percent decrease in September following a revised increase of 0.3 percent in August. Market forecasts were expecting the leading index to show no change for the month.

September showed increases in five out of ten sectors that make up the leading indicator index. The stock market indicator contributed the most towards the decreased index score in September with a decrease of 3.1 percent. The index would have been unchanged for the month excluding the stock market indicator. The U.S. leading indicator also dragged on the index as this indicator fell by 0.2 percent and declined for the 13th month in a row. Contributing positively to the index were money supply which increased by 0.5 percent and furniture and appliance sales which gained by 1.0 percent.

Canadian Dollar still under pressure in Forex Trading.

The Canadian loonie dollar has been losing ground today in the forex market for the second day in a row after yesterday's interest rate reduction. The U.S. dollar has advanced against the Canadian loonie to trade at its highest exchange rate since June of 2005 as the USD/CAD pair approaches the 1.2600 threshold. The USD/CAD opened the day at 1.2245 and trades at the exchange rate of 1.2529 in the afternoon of the U.S. session at 4.20pm ET. The euro has also gained against the loonie as the EUR/CAD trades at the 1.6111 level after opening the day at 1.5819. The loonie has also declined verses the Japanese yen as the CAD/JPY has fallen to the 78.01 yen per loonie level after opening at 81.62.

USD/CAD Chart - The USD/CAD continues to climb and trades at its highest level since June 2005(4Hour Chart).

Today's Forex Chart

tags: canada, retail sales, leading indicators, cad

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