Data showed US core capital goods orders rose the most in six months, offering a tentative sign that a downturn in US business spending is starting to ease, which may be good news for Canada's exporters.
Weak US business investment has hampered a long-awaited pick-up in growth of Canada's non-energy exports, economists say, while a weaker Canadian dollar has not helped exports as much as expected.
Oil prices slipped as the market focused on oversupply and fading expectation of a production freeze. US crude prices were down 0.26 percent to $46.65 a barrel.
Investors are awaiting clues from Jackson Hole on the US interest rate outlook, with the focus on Friday's keynote speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen.
At 9:23 a.m. EDT (1323 GMT), the Canadian dollar was trading at C$1.2927 to the greenback, or 77.36 US cents, slightly stronger than Wednesday's close of C$1.2930, or 77.34 US cents.
The currency's strongest level of the session was C$1.2899, while its weakest level was C$1.2940.
Canadian government bond prices were lower in sympathy with Treasuries after the solid US data.
The two-year bond fell 2.5 Canadian cents to yield 0.586 percent and the benchmark 10-year declined 18 Canadian cents to yield 1.056 percent.