The Canadian dollar strengthened against the greenback on
Friday, and the yield on benchmark government debt slipped.
The loonie was trading 0.1% higher at C$1.3476 to the
greenback, or 74.21 U.S. cents, after trading in a range of
1.3455 to 1.3502.
Canadian government 10-year bond yields fell 0.8
basis points to 3.486%. The yield on similar U.S. government
benchmark debt rose to 4.1475%.
U.S. February crude futures rose 11 cents to $74.19 a
barrel on Friday.
Canadian retail sales fell 0.2% in December from November.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected retail sales to be
flat.Excluding autos. retail sales fell 0.5% in December,
Statistics Canada said.  Analysts had forecast December sales,
excluding autos, to be down 0.1%.