4 Apr 2014
Loonie surges against the dollar after labour market data
FXStreet (London) - The Canadian dollar has rallied strongly against its US counterpart.
While the focus has been on US non-farm payroll statistics, Canadian jobs numbers released concurrently by Statistics Canada showed a rebound in employment.
Canadian employment booted by public sector jobs
Canadian employment increased by 43k in March, driven by gains in youth employment and in the public sector. The unemployment rate declined 0.1 percentage points to 6.9 percent. Year-on-year employment remains subdued, gaining 190k jobs in the 12 months to March, up 1.1 percent.
Public sector employment increased in March while the number of private sector employees and self-employed was unchanged.
Mediocre US non-farm payrolls
In the US total non-farm payroll employment rose by 192k in March, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.7 percent.
While the gains were similar in percentage terms, expectations for US employment numbers had been much more bullish with optimism fuelled by encouraging ISM and PMI surveys.
While on the face of it today’s print indicates a pick up in economic activity following the disruptive weather conditions and below-normal temperature conditions from earlier in the year that had been blamed for poor US data, the upwards revision of January and February’s numbers belie the excuses given at the time. The change in total non-farm payroll employment for January was revised from +129k to +144k, and the change for February was revised from +175k to +197k.
Employment grew in professional and business services, in health care, and in mining and logging.
The number of unemployed persons was unchanged at 10.5 million, with the unemployment rate holding at 6.7 percent.
CAD surges
USD/CAD is currently trading at CAD1.0968, with the Canadian dollar strengthening against the US dollar by 0.63 percent. The pair hit a low of CAD1.0956 immediately following the respective labour market data releases before showing a small rebound.
While the focus has been on US non-farm payroll statistics, Canadian jobs numbers released concurrently by Statistics Canada showed a rebound in employment.
Canadian employment booted by public sector jobs
Canadian employment increased by 43k in March, driven by gains in youth employment and in the public sector. The unemployment rate declined 0.1 percentage points to 6.9 percent. Year-on-year employment remains subdued, gaining 190k jobs in the 12 months to March, up 1.1 percent.
Public sector employment increased in March while the number of private sector employees and self-employed was unchanged.
Mediocre US non-farm payrolls
In the US total non-farm payroll employment rose by 192k in March, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.7 percent.
While the gains were similar in percentage terms, expectations for US employment numbers had been much more bullish with optimism fuelled by encouraging ISM and PMI surveys.
While on the face of it today’s print indicates a pick up in economic activity following the disruptive weather conditions and below-normal temperature conditions from earlier in the year that had been blamed for poor US data, the upwards revision of January and February’s numbers belie the excuses given at the time. The change in total non-farm payroll employment for January was revised from +129k to +144k, and the change for February was revised from +175k to +197k.
Employment grew in professional and business services, in health care, and in mining and logging.
The number of unemployed persons was unchanged at 10.5 million, with the unemployment rate holding at 6.7 percent.
CAD surges
USD/CAD is currently trading at CAD1.0968, with the Canadian dollar strengthening against the US dollar by 0.63 percent. The pair hit a low of CAD1.0956 immediately following the respective labour market data releases before showing a small rebound.