* C$ slips to C$0.9857 vs US$, or $1.0145
* Bond prices climb across the curve
By Claire Sibonney
TORONTO, Jan 14 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar softened
against its U.S. counterpart on Monday after disappointing euro
zone factory data and weaker U.S. equities dented confidence.
Output at euro zone factories fell for the third straight
month in November and against expectations of a rise, but the
data included some evidence to back hopes that the bloc's
recession may now have bottomed.
"The Canadian dollar lost ground because the U.S. dollar
spiked on worse than expected European data ... that's when the
U.S. dollar started popping higher," said Michael O'Neill, vice
president of FX trading at Jitneytrade.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock index futures fell on Monday as shares
of Apple were hit by demand concerns, while the
corporate earnings season was set to pick up this week.
The currency was expected to take further direction from
U.S. earnings as the season picks up this week, with reports due
from companies including Goldman Sachs, Bank of America
, Intel and General Electric.
Overall earnings are expected to grow by just 1.9 percent in
this reporting period, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Thirty-eight S&P 500 companies are due to report results this
week.
At 9:11 a.m. (1411 GMT), the Canadian dollar stood
at C$0.9857 versus the greenback, or $1.0145, slightly weaker
than Friday's close at C$0.9844, or $1.0158. The currency traded
in a narrow band between C$0.9832-65.
"At the end of the day all you're seeing is a bunch of noise
in a tight range," added O'Neill.
He pointed to Canadian-dollar support around C$0.9880-90.
Canadian bond prices climbed across the curve. The two-year
bond was up 2 Canadian cent to yield 1.183 percent,
while the benchmark 10-year bond gained 10 Canadian
cents to yield 1.930 percent.