The Canadian dollar and New Zealand dollar were the weakest of the majors on Friday, but it is the former that will face headline event risk at the start of next week. The Canadian economy is projected to have contracted for the third straight month in Q2, this time by 3 percent. Such a result would indicate a moderation in the pace of Canada’s decline, as GDP fell 5.39 percent in Q1 and 3.74 percent in Q4 2008. Generally speaking, exports are likely to remain a heavy weight on GDP, as the nation posted a record current account deficit during Q2 after exports fell C$9.3 billion, though this is somewhat better than the drop of C$19.9 billion in Q1. The consumer end of the line has shown more improvement, though, as the Canadian economy only lost 13,300 jobs in Q2, compared to a loss of nearly 273,000 in Q1, while retail sales picked up in May and June. Overall, there is potential for slightly better-than-anticipated result, which would likely offer a boost to the Canadian dollar, but if GDP actually falls by more than 3 percent, hopes that the Canadian economy will be one of the first to emerge from recession may be dashed.