Summary:
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Canadian employment change: 55.9k vs 1.2k exp
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67.4k full-time roles and wages also top forecasts
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Despite the good data, CAD remains mixed on the day
At the same time as the more widely viewed US jobs report, the latest look at the labour market in Canada revealed a pleasing strength with an all round solid release. The net change in employment for February came in at +55.9k vs +1.2k expected and follows on from a reading of 66.8k last time out. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.8% as was expected.
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Canada added 55.9k jobs in the past month, extending the strong run of employment figures seen of late. Source: Bloomberg
One of the main things to look for in this release is the composition of jobs, as it provides a further insight into how sustainable the numbers will be and this was particularly pleasing. Full-time employment change came in at 67.4k vs 0.8k expected after a rise of 30.9k seen last time out. This means that the part-time employment change actually declined, with a print of -11.6k. This was below the -5.7k expected and a marked drop on the 36.0k prior. Finally, wages also were strong with an increase in the hourly wage rate of 2.2% vs 1.7% expected after 1.8% last month.
Despite the strong data the CAD has failed to make much headway, trading fairly mixed on the whole today. Source: xStation
The main event this week for the Loonie was Wednesday’s BOC rate decision and while the bank kept rates unchanged, the dovish tilt weighed on CAD. USDCAD is trading a little lower on the day after 5 consecutive daily gains (if we count just the full sessions) and remains well support above the 1.3380 level. After breaking this resistance following the BOC, 1.3380 could now be seen as the first level of support.
USDCAD is still on course for a good week of gains despite today’s dip. The market is in breakout territory above the 1.3380 level. Source: xStation
