(Adds strategist quotes and details throughout, updates prices)
* Canadian dollar trades little changed against the greenback
* Canada's wholesale trade rose 0.6% in June from May
* U.S. oil prices fall 0.6%
* Bond prices move lower across the yield curve
By Levent Uslu
TORONTO, Aug 22 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar steadied against its U.S. counterpart on Thursday, trimming earlier gains as investor appetite for risk decreased ahead of a Federal Reserve central banking conference this week.
U.S. stocks were mixed on the first contraction in the manufacturing sector in nearly a decade and uncertainty about future interest rate cuts.
Oil prices weakened as worries about the global economy weighed. U.S. crude oil futures CLc1 settled 0.6% lower at $55.35 a barrel. Chair Jerome Powell's speech on Friday in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, could indicate whether the U.S. central bank will continue to cut interest rates, which could also help guide expectations about the Bank of Canada's interest rate decision.
"It's all like a broad turn lower in risk, stocks are lower, crude oil is going lower, and dollar-CAD being sensitive to all of that, is going higher." said Eric Bregar, director and head of FX strategy at the Exchange Bank of Canada. But "it's still very much a range trade, waiting for a clarity from Jerome Powell."
The Canadian dollar CAD=D4 was trading nearly unchanged at 1.3296 to the greenback, or 75.21 U.S. cents, at 3:17 p.m. (1917 GMT). The currency, which lost some ground it gained earlier, was trading in a range of 1.3276 to 1.3315.
Domestic data showed that Canadian wholesale trade increased by 0.6% in June from May. Analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast a 0.3% increase. retail sales data is due on Friday, with a Reuters poll forecasting a 0.1% decrease.
Canadian government bond prices were lower across the yield curve, with the two-year CA2YT=RR down 9.5 Canadian cents to yield 1.458% and the 10-year CA10YT=RR falling 43 Canadian cents to yield 1.267%.