The Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey found that 31 per cent of those asked said they’re more likely to travel or make a big purchase in the United States.

The results suggest Canadians could be pumping billions of dollars into the U.S. economy that they would otherwise be spending at home.

Pollster Doug Anderson cautions that not everyone who tells a pollster they are more likely to do something actually does it.

However, he says if he were a retailer in Canada, he would be concerned.

The survey was conducted March 18-21 when the loonie was making a run at parity with the U.S. dollar.

The loonie has been hanging around parity for the last two days, trading within a narrow band a few points above and below the line.

The poll suggests adults under the age of 35 are almost twice as likely to say they are being lured by the currency’s strength than those over 50.

The poll of 1,000 people is considered accurate to within plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

The S&P/TSX composite index was down 3.77 points to 12,040.44 in the final trading session of the second quarter.

Statistics Canada reported real GDP advanced 0.6 per cent in January, its fifth straight monthly increase. That was slightly ahead of the bullish estimate of a 0.5 per cent increase from December, or six per cent annualized, that economists had expected.

“The Canadian economy really continues to benefit from a stronger consumer, government spending and strong construction sector,” said Jeffrey Bradacs, senior investment analyst at MFC.

“GDP growth for the first quarter continues to outpace the bank of Canada’s forecast, and that increases the likelihood of a rate increase in June.”

The Canadian dollar, which has been hovering just below parity with the American currency, was ahead 0.46 of a cent to 98.55 cents US early Wednesday.

A separate report from Statistics Canada showed that total hours worked by payroll employees increased by 0.3 per cent in January while non-farm payroll employment was virtually unchanged.

TSX metals stocks were up 0.4 per cent on a flurry of activity in the sector. Inmet Mining Corp. (TSX:IMN) has arranged a $500-million equity financing through Ellington Investments Pte. Ltd., a subsidiary of a Singapore-based investment company with holdings in Asia and Latin America. Shares rose eight per cent, or $4.45, to $59.95.

Meanwhile, Wallbridge Mining Company Ltd. (TSX:WM) says it will spin off all its copper, gold and molybdenum properties in British Columbia to a new independent company called Miocene Metals Ltd. Its shares were up 2.5 cents to 28 cents.

The gold sector was also ahead, 1.1 per cent higher, as the May gold contract increased $9.90 to $1,114.40 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The May copper contract lost one cent to a 19-month high of US$3.55 a pound.

Energy stocks lifted 0.9 per cent with the May crude contract on the NYSE ahead $1.33 cents to US$83.70 a barrel.

The information technology sector backed off 0.8 per cent ahead of earnings from BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion (TSX:RIM) scheduled after the closing bell. It shares were down 47 cents to $75.79.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average dipped 14 points to 10,893. The Nasdaq composite index rose four points to 2,415 while the S&P 500 index was flat at 1,174.

In the U.S., payroll company ADP says employers slashed 23,000 jobs in March, compared to economists predictions which had forecast companies would add 40,000 jobs during the month.

The ADP report is seen as an early indicator of the U.S. Labour Department’s closely watched monthly employment report, which is due out Friday. However, there can be wide variations because ADP only accounts for private-sector jobs.

Economists expect the government report to show employers added 190,000 jobs in March. It would be only the second monthly increase in jobs since the recession began in late 2007. The number could be somewhat inflated because many temporary workers were hired to conduct the 2010 census.

Employment growth is considered vital to a strong recovery in the U.S. because it will give consumers more confidence to go out and spend money, the biggest driver of economic activity in the country.

The ADP report also outshone data from the U.S. Commerce Department showing that factory orders rose 0.6 per cent last month, a decrease from January’s upwardly revised gain of 2.5 per cent. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters forecast an increase of 0.5 per cent.

“It’s a big issue for sure,” said Steve Uzielli, portfolio manager-director ScotiaMcLeod equity advisory. “Until there is resolution on this issue, it will continue to be one of many shadows over the market.

The S&P/TSX composite index was well off early lows late in the morning as losses in the energy and mining sectors moderated. But the main index was still down 28 points at 11,920. The TSX Venture Exchange was 12.71 points lower at 1,551.35.

The Greek debt crisis continued to attract investor attention after Germany’s chancellor said Sunday that a bailout for Greece won’t be discussed at a European summit this week. Greece has said in recent days that if other European countries do not provide support, it might turn to the International Monetary Fund for help.

Investors are worried about the effect on the global economic recovery if Greece and some other European countries that use the euro – such as Spain and Portugal – falter in their struggle to pay down their heavy debt.

The Canadian dollar lost ground as the U.S. dollar attracted nervous traders and gained strength against a number of currencies. The loonie was down 0.34 of a US cent to 98.05 cents US.

Commodity prices also wilted under the weight of a stronger greenback.

“U.S. dollar strength typically leads to lower commodity prices and that’s what we’re seeing today,” said Uzielli, pointing out that such a rise is “a relative measure.”

“The U.S. has its own issues (but) when compared to the European situation, and the uncertainty there, all of a sudden the U.S. dollar looks like a safe haven in relative terms.”

The April crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 38 cents to US$80.30 a barrel. The energy sector moved back 0.6 per cent and Canadian Natural Resources (TSX:CNQ) shed 54 cents to C$72.71.

The tepid performance in the energy sector came amid a report from the Conference Board of Canada predicting profits in the natural gas sector will increase in 2010. It added that higher prices will offset lower production. Nexen Inc. (TSX:NXY) moved down 10 cents to $24.31.

The base metals sector was the leading Toronto decliner, down almost one per cent as May copper lost two cents to US$3.35 a pound. Sherritt International (TSX:S) fell 27 cents to C$8.43 and First Quantum Minerals (TSX:FM) fell $2.92 to C$86.36.

The gold sector faded one per cent with the April gold contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange down $11 to US$1,096.60 an ounce. Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G) was off 39 cents at C$39.06.

Financials were also a drag on the TSX, with selling focused on insurers. Manulife Financial (TSX:MFC) was down 39 cents at $19.75 while Sun Life (TSX:SLF) declined 31 cents to $31.63.

The telecom sector was up 0.4 per cent with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission set to rule Monday on the so-called TV tax or fee for carriage. Cable companies say such a fee could add $10 a month to consumers’ bills if the regulator rules they have to pay broadcasters for their local signals. The decision is expected after the market close. Telus Corp. was the big gainer, up 40 cents at $36.88.

The picture was more positive in New York, where markets are not nearly as commodity-heavy as the TSX.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 40.3 points to 10,782.3.

The Nasdaq composite index edged up 12.67 points to 2,387.08 while the S&P 500 index added 3.5 points to 1,163.4.

The health-care sector was one of the leading advancers on the NYSE following the passage of a sweeping package of U.S. health-care legislation over the weekend which will create near-universal medical coverage and extend benefits to 32 million currently uninsured Americans.

Pfizer gained 32 cents to US$17.23 while Merck improved 78 cents to US$38.84.

Further weighing on investor sentiment Monday was the move by India’s central bank on Friday to raise interest rates. The quarter-point hike, intended to cool high inflation, unnerved investors who were concerned that growth and asset prices could sink once governments start winding down their stimulus measures.

The move by the Indian government to curb the economy comes at a time when the Chinese government has also made moves to slow down a hot economy, raising the reserve levels of banks.

“If those are the global economic growth engines and there are efforts being made to curb that growth, that obviously has implications for the global economy and producers of commodities for that global economy and that brings you back to Canada as well,” Uzielli said.

Stocks in Asia were down on the Greek uncertainty and the India rate hike, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng plunging 2.1 per cent. Japanese markets were closed for a national holiday. Australia’s market fell 0.9 per cent and India’s Sensex dropped 0.7 per cent.

London’s FTSE 100 index fell 0.28 per cent, Frankfurt’s DAX lost 0.09 per cent while the Paris CAC 40 dropped 0.12 per cent.

In corporate news, the founder of Biovail Corp (TSX:BVF), Eugene Melnyk, has sold “substantially all” of his holdings in the Toronto-area pharmaceutical company.

According to a regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Melnyk has sold about 9.6 million Biovail shares since Nov. 24. At that time, the stock stood at $14.99. On Monday, Biovail shares were up 31 cents at $16.42. Melnyk left Biovail several years ago and has been often at odds with its management and board of directors about Biovail’s strategy.

Osisko Mining Corp. (TSX:OSK) plans to acquire Hammond Reef gold project in Ontario through a takeover of Brett Resources Inc. of Vancouver (TSXV:BBR) in an all-stock deal valued at $372 million. Osisko stock was down 23 cents at $8.36.

But when the loonie rises, it tends to soften the effect higher oil prices have on what Canadians pay for products made from crude such as gasoline, the vice-president of the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute said Friday.

When oil and the loonie rise in tandem “then you’re going to have a dampening impact of the cost of crude oil on the cost inputs of refined products for Canadians,” Tony Macerollo said.

“If the dollar stopped moving, but oil didn’t, you wouldn’t see that effect.”

A high loonie is bad news for Canadian energy producers that sell their product in the United States, said Judith Dwarkin, chief economist at Ross Smith Energy Group.

“When the Canadian dollar is rising, the seller receives fewer Canadian dollars per U.S. dollar,” she said.

“If you’re an exporter relying on sales into the U.S. market, a rise in Canadian dollar is not helpful.”

However, companies get a bigger bang for their Canadian buck if they’re bringing in equipment or services from the United States.

“But I think that’s a relatively small piece of the puzzle,” Dwarkin said.

“There’s some offset if you’re buying cross-border services or goods. But it’s only a very small sweetener of the situation.”

The loonie was worth about 98.5 cents US on Friday, off 0.15 of a cent from a day earlier.

Oil prices were close to US$80 on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Friday. A report by Ottawa-based think-tank Conference Board of Canada predicted Thursday crude prices will remain in that range this year.

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David Dodge, former governor of the Bank of Canada, says Canadians need to save far more if they want to retire comfortably – even those Canadians who think they have great company pension plans and solid RRSPs.

In a study on savings for the C.D. Howe Institute, Dodge finds that if Canadians want to maintain the same standard of living after they retire, they need to stash away between 10 and 21 per cent of their pre-tax savings every year, starting from the time they’re 35.

“This fraction is likely far higher than many Canadians believe and higher than is set aside in most employer-based group RSPs or defined-contribution plans,” Dodge writes in the paper, co-written with Alexandre Laurin and Colin Busby.

“It is also higher than the effective contribution over time of employer-sponsored defined benefit plans. And for high-income earners, (it) exceeds the annual limits placed on RRSP contributions.”

For Canadians over the age of 35 who have not kept up with their savings, they’ll need to put aside far more than 20 per cent of their income, for a smooth retirement, the paper says. Or, they’ll have to work well past the age of 65.

Dodge and two co-authors did the number-crunching in order to make people realize why there’s so much government discussion about reforming the country’s retirement-income system. They’ve issued what they call a “piggy bank index” that allows Canadians to match their savings to what they hope to have in retirement.

“Our findings provide Canadians with a reality check about the saving rates required to meet their retirement goals and inform the choices they could have to make between working longer or consuming less and saving more,” Dodge said.

The authors made numerous assumptions to come to their conclusions. They assumed Canadians would want to replace 70 per cent of their working incomes when they retire, and they assumed Canadians would retire at the age of 65.

But they also ran scenarios with a later retirement age and only a 60 per cent replacement of pre-retirement income, and still found that savings still needed to be substantial.

Their research lends weight to those who say the country’s pension system needs major reform, especially as large chunks of the population prepare for retirement.

But other research suggests that Canadian savings may not be as paltry as some policy makers and analysts fear. Once assets such as housing are taken into account, the net worth of the majority of Canadians is substantial enough to allow for a decent retirement, according to work led by University of Calgary economist Jack Mintz.

Still, many provincial governments believe retirement incomes are under siege, and are asking Ottawa to lead reforms that would build on the Canada Pension Plan and eventually deliver more generous pension benefits to retirees.

Ottawa is preparing to hold public consultations on the matter this spring, in the hope of reaching some decisions in May in conjunction with the provinces.

But even if Canadians take matters into their own hands and want to save more, they face public-policy obstacles, Dodge points out in his paper.

In particular, the Income Tax Act caps how much Canadians can save, free of tax, so acts as a disincentive for many high-income people to put away much of their income, he says.

RBC Economics says rising prices made it more expensive to own a home, but that was partly offset by a small drop in mortgage rates and higher wages. Senior economist Robert Hogue says while affordability deteriorated in the fourth quarter of 2009, the change was relatively modest.

The RBC index looks at the proportion of pre-tax household income needed to service the costs of owning a home.

The index for a detached bungalow rose 0.3 per cent to 40.6 per cent and a standard townhouse rose by 0.2 percentage points to 32.9 per cent.

The standard condo climbed 0.1 per cent up to 28 per cent and the standard two-storey home increased by 0.3 percentage points to 46.7 per cent.

Despite the recent increase, all affordability measures remain well below their levels from a year ago.

The central bank acknowledged Tuesday during its scheduled policy rate announcement that the economy is improving – better than even it had projected – but asserted it still needs the help of low interest rates to spur activity.

And it has again warned that the high Canadian dollar constitutes a major drag to future economic growth. The bank kept the trend-setting rate at 0.25 per cent for at least another month and a half, when it next pronounces on rates, and in all likelihood until July.

That is the message Canadians are likely to hear in Thursday’s federal budget as well, when Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is expected to say that Ottawa will carry on with the second year of its stimulus spending plans.

The bank said that although the economy has improved from last year’s deep slump, much of that has come from actions by governments and central bankers to prime the economic pump.

“The underlying factors supporting Canada’s recovery are largely unchanged – policy stimulus, increased confidence, improved financial conditions, global growth and higher terms of trade,” the bank said.

“At the same time, the persistent strength of the Canadian dollar and the low absolute level of U.S. demand continue to act as significant drags on economic activity.”

Conditions have also improved in the global outlook, the bank said, but in the advanced economies mainly as a result of “exceptional” monetary and fiscal stimulus.

There have been some changes since the bank last pronounced on interest rates in January, and most have been for the good.

On Monday, Statistics Canada reported that the economy had bounced back strongly in the last three months of 2009 with a five per cent growth rate. That was a bigger jump than the central bank had expected and resulted in the Canadian dollar gaining a full point to 96.01 cents US at the close Monday.

The bank said the main engine of growth remains vigorous domestic spending, but added better results for the battered export sector to its list of factors.

Markets may have expected Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney to signal Tuesday he was preparing to tighten the monetary reins as a result, and the bank did suggest in its announcement that core inflation has been “slightly firmer than projected.”

But it noted that some of the higher inflationary pressures were due to transitory factors, adding that its outlook on prices had not materially changed since January.

“Conditional on the current outlook for inflation, the target overnight rate (0.25 per cent) can be expected to remain at its current level until the end of the second quarter of 2010 in order to achieve the inflation target,” it said.

The industry organization said sales for January totalled between $314 million and $814 million, down from January 2009 sales of $1.17 billion.

IFIC also estimates that net assets of the mutual fund industry for January were between $581 billion and $586 billion, up from $491.1 billion in January 2009.

“This January we were seeing very strong portfolio rebalancing activity out of money market funds and back into the long-term fund categories,” says Pat Dunwoody, IFIC’s vice president of member services. “This contrasts the results for the past two years and, as January tends to be the month when advisors sit down with their  clients to review their portfolios, likely highlights increasing comfort among both investors  and their advisors regarding the risk/return tradeoff in markets generally.”

Assets were down about 1.97 per cent from December’s total of $595.2 billion. Net sales for the last month of 2009 were $194 million.