The Canadian Gross Domestic Product decreased in the fourth quarter of 2008 according to a report by Statistics Canada released today. Canadian GDP fell in the October to December quarter by an annualized 3.4 percent following a revised gain 
of 0.9 percent in the July to September quarter. The decline in fourth quarter GDP was the largest quarterly fall since the 1991. The fourth quarter’s GDP decline was better than market forecasts as predictions were for an annualized 3.5 percent decline.
Total GDP growth in Canada for all of 2008 was 0.5 percent following GDP growth of 2.7 percent for all of 2007. GDP data for the month of December showed a decline of 1.0 percent following a 0.7 percent decrease in November. The monthly decline surpassed economic forecasts predicting a fall of just 0.6 percent.
Contributing to the fourth quarter GDP decline was a decrease in the production of goods by 2.4 percent with the manufacturing industry showing a 4.3 percent drop. Service-producing industries were also down in the fourth quarter with a 0.4 percent fall. Exports declined for the sixth straight quarter with a 4.7 percent dip while imports also fell at a 6.4 percent clip. Personal spending decreased for the first time since 1995 in the fourth quarter as spending declined by 0.8 percent.
Canadian Dollar loses ground in Currency Trading.
The Canadian loonie dollar has been losing ground in the currency trading markets against most of the other major currencies today.
The U.S. dollar has advanced against the Canadian loonie as the USD/CAD trades at the exchange rate of 1.2935 at the end of the U.S. session at 4:57pm EST after opening the day at 1.2753 according to currency data by Oanda.
The euro has also gained against the loonie as the EUR/CAD trades at the 1.6262 level after opening the day at 1.6029. The loonie has declined versus the Japanese yen as the CAD/JPY has fallen to the 75.35 yen per loonie level after opening at 76.47.
The British pound has advanced versus the loonie as the GBP/CAD trades at 1.8163 after opening today at 1.8136.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars have gained against the Canadian loonie as the AUD/CAD trades at 0.8138 from 0.8068 while the NZD/CAD trades at 0.6365 after opening the day at the 0.6289 exchange rate.
CAD/JPY Chart – The Canadian dollar falling versus the Japanese Yen today in Currency Trading(4 Hour Chart).
