TORONTO – The Canadian dollar was negative on Tuesday morning shortly after a report from Statistics Canada showed the domestic economy grew at a disappointing rate.

The agency said gross domestic product was up by 0.1 per cent in May, after rising 0.3 per cent in April. Economists had expected a stronger showing in May of 0.2 per cent.

The loonie was down 0.12 of a cent to 99.70 cents US after the report.

“Manufacturing was a notable miss, falling 0.5 per cent in real output despite an earlier reported gain in real shipments,” said CIBC chief economist Avery Shenfeld in a note.

“We had expected a larger rebound in utilities, a sector that has still not done much to make up for a big dive during the abnormally mild winter.”

Elsewhere, attention will be focused on the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting, which is expected to include action to kick-start the U.S. economy. The anticipation comes as the European Central Bank meets on Thursday.

In commodities, the September crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange lifted 44 cents to US$90.22 a barrel.

September copper moved up three cents to US$3.45 a pound while August gold rose $5.50 to US$1,625.20 an ounce.