The Canadian dollar today fell significantly against its US counterpart following the release of the latest Canadian employment data, which missed expectations. The USD/CAD currency pair was also boosted by the resurgent greenback, which was fueled by the upbeat US nonfarm payrolls report released at the same time.
The USD/CAD currency pair today rallied from a low of 1.3106 to a high of 1.3182 as the loonie ceded ground to the greenback.
The release of the latest Canadian labour force survey for August by Statistics Canada is what triggered the loonie’s fall. According to the report, Canadian employment fell by 52,000 as opposed to the expected 5,000 new jobs, which paled in comparison to the gains recorded in the past two months. The unemployment rate also edged higher to 6.0% as compared to the expected 5.9% print and the previous figure of 5.8%. However, full-time employment improved to come in at 40.4 versus the expected 35. Average hourly earnings also missed expectations by coming in at 2.6% versus the consensus estimate of 3.0%.
The loonie’s decline was further accelerated by the US nonfarm payrolls report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which came in at 201,000 jobs versus the expected 190,000 jobs. US average hourly earnings also surprised to the upside by coming in at 2.9% as compared to the estimated 2.7% print. However, the unemployment rate was higher than expected.
Given the upcoming weekend, the currency pair’s future performance is likely to be affected by geopolitical events such as the US-China trade war.
The USD/CAD currency pair was trading at 1.3155 as at 13:48 GMT having rallied from a low of 1.3106. The CAD/JPY currency pair was trading at 84.41 having risen from a low of 83.87.
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