A second consecutive month of excellent jobs figures from Canada: 78.6K jobs gained and the unemployment rate falls to 5.7%. This comes on top of a similar report for November. The participation rate is also up to 65.8%. Wages are up 2.7%, slightly higher than in the US.
USD/CAD crashes to 1.2374.
Here is the move on the chart, quite impressive:
Only the trade balance missed with a deficit of 2.5 billion. Yet the Canadian economy seems to be on fire and the loonie likes it.
Canada was expected to show a minor rise of 1000 jobs in December after a whopping jump of 79.5K in November. Back then, the unemployment rate dropped to 5.9% and it is now expected to tick up to 6%. The participation rate stood at 65.7%. For comparison, it is some 3 points lower in the US.
USD/CAD battled the 1.25 line. An attempt to move lower did not go too far. It is important to note that the US released its own jobs report, the Non-Farm Payrolls, at the same time, and it is also moving the pair.
In a separate report, Canada’s trade balance deficit was expected to squeeze from 1.5 billion to 1.2 billion.
The Canadian dollar was underpinned by rising oil prices. Production issues in Libya, political instability in Iran and storms in North America.
In general, the Canadian dollar enjoyed an excellent first half of 2017, saw a slowdown in Q3 and for Q4, there were some positive signs.
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