Canadian Dollar Rallies on Upbeat NFP and Canadian Jobs Data

The  Canadian dollar today rallied against its US counterpart after the  release of  jobs reports from both countries, which beat expectations. The  USD/CAD currency pair spiked briefly after the  release of  the  US non-farm payrolls, but headed lower shortly thereafter as  the  loonie recovered.
The  USD/CAD currency pair today dropped from an  Asian session high of  1.3492 before dropping to  a  low of  1.3419 in  the  early American session.
The  currency pair was in  a  consolidative phase at  the  start of  today’s session as  markets reacted to  yesterday’s disappointing US ISM manufacturing PMI data. A  rally in  crude oil prices as  tracked by  the  West Texas Intermediate, which hit a  high of  48.86 today, also boosted the  loonie. The  release of  the  Canadian labour force survey for  December by  Statistics Canada triggered the  loonie’s latest rally. The  Canadian unemployment rate came in  at  5.6%, which was lower than the  expected 5.7% print. The  country also added 9,300 jobs in  December versus the  expected 5,000 jobs, which also boosted the  loonie.
The  release of  the  US non-farm payrolls data for  December by  the  Bureau of  Labor Statistics triggered the  brief spike by  the  currency pair. The  non-farm payrolls came in  at  312,000 new jobs, which was almost double the  expected 177,000 new jobs. However, the  spike was short-lived as  the  loonie quickly recovered allowing the  pair to  extend its decline.
The  currency pair’s short-term performance is likely to  be affected by  the  Fed Chair Jerome Powell‘s speech scheduled for  15:15 GMT today.
The  USD/CAD currency pair was trading at  1.3439 as  at  14:45 GMT having dropped from a  high of  1.3492. The  CAD/JPY currency pair was trading at  80.79 having rallied from a  low of  79.72.

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