Canada’s job numbers remain defiant, the economy added 62,100 jobs with a drop in the unemployment rate to 8.5%. This goes against a backdrop of decimation in the service and travel industries and a surge in Covid-19 cases. While the news appears to be good, there is still the Canada emergency relief programs that are providing a vast amount of assistance and allowing people to remain employed. This will all end April 1st, and by then the entire world hopes that the pandemic will have diminished to an irritant rather than an economic catastrophe. This is a lifeline for a lot of small businesses and hopefully things will have returned to some level of normalcy, although the old normal is gone.
The Canadian dollar is stronger on the job numbers but the variable that is in these numbers, Covid-19, provinces may be forced into further lockdowns, so we will have to wait and see.
Currently Close Range
USDCAD 1.2795 1.2860 1.2791-1.2874
EURCAD 1.5535 1.5616 1.5543-1.5662
GBPCAD 1.7250 1.7290 1.7227-1.7354