USD/CAD – Loonie flash plummets on weaker jobs report

  • Canada Jan Net Jobs -88,000 From Dec
  • Canada Jan Net Jobs Forecast At +10,000
  • Canada Jan Full-Time Jobs +49,000; Part-Time -137,000
  • Canada Jan Avg Hourly Wages +3.3% From Year Ago
  • Canada Labor Force -73,700 In Jan From Dec
  • Canada Jan Participation Rate At 65.5% Vs 65.8% In Dec
  • Canada’s unemployment rate ticked up last month after hitting a 10-year low in December, as both the public and private sectors shed workers.

    The Canadian economy lost a net -88k jobs in January on a seasonally adjusted basis. The market expectations were for an increase in employment of +10k.

    Canada’s unemployment rate ticked a tad higher to +5.9% in January, up from a revised reading of +5.8% in December.

    The loonie took it on the chin immediately, moving from C$1.2601 to an intraday dollar high of C$1.2694. The CAD has since pared all of those losses and then some, trading atop of C$1.2600.

    The CAD bears will have been disappointed with the initial price action as there were looking for better USD levels to sell their longs. A plethora of dollar sell orders had been scattered atop of the psychological C$1.2700 handle.The USD/CAD is trading lower on the day at C$1.2585.

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    Dean Popplewell

    Dean Popplewell

    Vice-President of Market Analysis at MarketPulse
    Dean Popplewell has nearly two decades of experience trading currencies and fixed income instruments. He has a deep understanding of market fundamentals and the impact of global events on capital markets. He is respected among professional traders for his skilled analysis and career history as global head of trading for firms such as Scotia Capital and BMO Nesbitt Burns. Since joining OANDA in 2006, Dean has played an instrumental role in driving awareness of the forex market as an emerging asset class for retail investors, as well as providing expert counsel to a number of internal teams on how to best serve clients and industry stakeholders.
    Dean Popplewell