Canadian Employment Beats – USD/CAD Falls To 1.30

Canada reported a gain of no less than 40.6K, around 4 times the early expectations. In addition, the unemployment rate fell to 7.1%, also a big beat. The vast majority of jobs came from full time jobs: 35.3K jobs were full time positions. The participation rate remained unchanged at 65.9%, making the drop in the unemployment rate genuine. Also wages look good: 3.3% y/y, which is far better than in the US.

USD/CAD drops to around 1.30 from around 1.3060 prior to the publication.

The Canadian dollar enjoyed rising oil prices earlier this week. Crude oil inventories showed a withdraw of barrels, contrary to the buildups that were seen during very long weeks. While the price of the black gold is far from satisfactory for Canada and under the highs seen in March, the pendulum swung in its favor this week.

The loonie also enjoys the general weakness of the US dollar this week. Attempts to make a comeback were met with a reaction to the other side. While Yellen did not go to the extreme dovish side, she also didn’t become a hawk all of a sudden. Her colleague Dudley also expressed caution.

Here is the Dollar/CAD chart which reflects the downfall of the pair, or better said, the strength of the Canadian dollar in light of this new data.