The US is the only Western economy that is expanding despite higher interest rates

Today's expected range for the Canadian Dollar against the major currencies:

US Dollar        1.3775-1.3875

Euro                1.4525-1.4625

Sterling           1.6700-1.6800

WTI Oil (opening level) $84.66

The US Dollar index held onto its strength from earlier in the week as the US economy reported a third quarter growth rate of 4.9% far exceeding market expectation and confirming that the US is the only Western economy that is flourishing despite higher interest rates. With this growth rate equity investors will worry that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates higher for a longer period to keep up the fight on inflation which will also help to support the Greenback over the long-term and will continue to weigh on the stock market.

The Canadian Dollar picked up a little ground against the US Dollar yesterday but still remains above the 1.3800 (0.7246) level, it also made some smaller gains against the other currencies so overall the Loonie is hanging on at the moment and should remain relatively stable to close out the month.

We get some US secondary data to close out what was a busy week for the calendar, the US Personal Spending report should be of interest to investors as it appears that consumers are the one's driving the US economy at the moment and a strong number here should help stocks recover a little after a tough week.