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.
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