A better than expected jobs report from Canada: 12K jobs were gained in August, far better than a loss predicted. The unemployment rate rose by 0.2% to 7%, but this is due to a positive development: a rise in the participation rate from 65.7% to 65.9%.
USD/CAD is lower, under 1.32.
The US NFP was mixed. The US gained less jobs than expected but the revisions were positive and so were the wage numbers. This strengthens the greenback against many currencies but not against the C$.
More data: 54.4K full time jobs were added and 42.4K part time jobs were lost. The labor productivity rate fell by 0.6%.
Here is how it looks on the chart, and the background data is below:
Canada was expected to report a loss of around 5K jobs in august. The unemployment rate carried expectations for remaining unchanged at 6.8%. Labor productivity carried expectations for a fall of 0.7%.
USD/CAD traded around 1.3230 towards the release. It is important to note that the US releases its own report at the exact same time and this NFP is critical for the Fed decision on whether or not to raise rates.
Last week, we learned that Canada is officially in a recession, even though it is relatively shallow for now. The Canadian dollar and the economy were hit hard by falling oil prices, Canada’s critical export.
