Canada lost 30.4K jobs in July, and the unemployment rate rose to 7.3%. This is far worse than a gain of 9.6K that was expected, and the first loss of jobs since February. The unemployment rate was expected to remain unchanged at 7.2%
USD/CAD is now on the rise – it broke above resistance at 0.9940 and hit 0.9970 before falling a bit back. Update: the pair doesn’t let go, and remains at high ground.
The obvious line of resistance is USD/CAD parity, that the loonie finally managed to breach this week. It is followed by 1.0030. On the downside, 0.9940 now turns to support, followed by the week’s lows at 0.9910 and by an older support line at 0.9870.
Last month, Canada enjoyed a gain of 7.3K jobs, similar to the previous months. Gains were much larger in the previous months.
In the US, import prices fell unexpectedly fell by 0.6%, below expectations for a rise of 0.1%.
For more on the loonie, see the USD/CAD.
