It was a game of give and go this morning with the Canadian dollar in terms of news.
On the weak side, Canada’s employment data was not good, the jump in the unemployment rate and job losses seem to put Canada’s economic growth in a slowdown. However, when you delve into the data, the job losses were primarily in the service sectors and mostly part time positions. Full time jobs held, and in some sectors, even grew.
On the strong side, commodities are up, gold has regained half of yesterday’s losses, while silver is up over 2.46%, copper, the economy’s leading indicator is up as well, 1.2%. Oil prices are up over 17% since the beginning of the year, currently $56.87 USD a barrel, just off its one year high of $57.29 USD a barrel. Equities are higher on both sides of the 49th parallel, seemingly, dismissing the mediocre job data.
Outcome, a slightly stronger CAD to USD, a Reuters poll believes that the Canadian dollar is expected to rally further over the coming year as a global economic recovery takes hold, and the gains could accelerate if investors perceive the Bank of Canada is preparing to reduce monetary stimulus, strategists say. We will have to wait and see.