The poor employment data weakened the Canadian dollar today. Nevertheless, the loonie snapped its losses versus the US dollar and gained against the euro. The currency closed lower versus the Japanese yen.
Canadian employment shrank by 30.000 jobs in July, following the increase by 7,300 jobs in June. The report proved that forecasters, who expected an increase by 9,600, were wrong. Moreover, the unemployment rate was expected to stay at 7.2 percent, but actually rose to 7.3 percent.
The report was a worrying sign for the Canadian currency. Mark Carney, Bank of Canada’s Governor, was fairly optimistic for Canada’s economy, but one might question whether such optimism was warranted, considering the employment data. Of course, one month does not make a trend, but confidence in the loonie was damaged.
USD/CAD climbed from 0.9912 to 0.9969, but pulled back and closed at 0.9908. EUR/CAD was down from 1.2195 to 1.2175, the record low closing level. CAD/JPY fell from 79.24 to 78.95 and its daily minimum was at 78.45.
If you have any questions, comments or opinions regarding the Canadian Dollar,
feel free to post them using the commentary form below.