* U.S. dollar up 0.3 percent at C$1.3176
* Canada factory sales rose 1.4 percent in May from April
* Spread between the U.S. Canadian 10-year yields widens
* Canadian government bond prices higher across yield curve
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
July 17 (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar dropped on Tuesday, as the U.S. dollar rose across the board after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell struck a bullish tone in prepared remarks on the U.S. economy before a congressional committee.
The Canadian currency touched session lows against the greenback following release of Powell's testimony, nearing a two-week trough hit last week.
Powell, in testimony to the Senate Banking Committee, said the U.S. economy is on the cusp of "several years" where the job market remains strong and inflation stays around the Fed's 2 percent target. He discounted the risk that a trade war may throw a global recovery off track. struck a generally upbeat tone and signaled continued 'gradual' tightening, although he added a 'for now' to the gradual tightening signal," said Jim O'Sullivan, chief U.S. economist, at High Frequency Economics.
"That raises the possibility of both a faster and a slower pace, depending on economic and financial developments."
In late morning trading, the U.S. dollar was up 0.3 percent against its Canadian counterpart at C$1.3184 CAD=D3 . So far this year, the Canadian dollar is down 4.8 percent against a strong U.S. currency.
The Canadian dollar was also lower against the euro, which rose 0.1 percent to C$1.5405 EURCAD= . Sterling, however, fell 0.1 percent to C$1.7358 GBPCAD= .
The U.S. dollar, meanwhile, was up 0.3 percent against a basket of six major currencies at 94.778 .DXY .
Data showing Canada's factory sales rose 1.4 percent in May from April trimmed the Canadian currency's decline versus the greenback, but that had a brief impact. outlook for the Canadian dollar remained negative, analysts said, even though the Bank of Canada raised interest rates last week for the fourth time since July 2017, as the market has yet to fully price in the impact of global trade tensions.
"Domestic rate expectations have softened modestly and yield spreads have widened in a CAD-negative manner," said Eric Theoret, currency strategist at Scotiabank in Toronto.
The spread between the U.S. 10-year Treasury and Canadian 10-year yields US10CA10=RR widened to nearly 75.29 basis points on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Canadian government bond prices were higher across much of the yield curve in line with U.S. Treasuries.
The two-year yield CA2YT=RR was down at 1.915 percent, from 1.929 percent late on Monday, while the 10-year CA10YT=RR slipped to 2.113 percent from Monday's 2.138 percent.