USD/CAD Trades Lower on Disappointing Duo of Employment Reports

The USD/CAD currency pair today headed lower as the Canadian dollar gained against its US counterpart following disappointing jobs reports from both countries. The pair’s decline was further accelerated by the selling pressure on the US dollar following the high US unemployment rate reported.
The USD/CAD currency pair today declined from an opening high of 1.3150 to a low of 1.3083 in the American session.
The currency pair was in a consolidative phase for most of today’s session as markets awaited employment reports from both the USA and Canada. The latest Canadian labour force survey released by Statistics Canada painted a mixed picture of the country’s labor market. The report indicated that 31,800 new people joined Canada’s workforce, which was higher than the expected 20,000 new jobs, and boosted the loonie. However, the unemployment rate rose to 6.0% versus the expected and previous 5.8%. Average hourly earnings also missed expectations rising by 3.5% versus the consensus estimate of 3.7%. Canada’s trade balance also rose to C$ 2.77 billion, which dragged down the loonie.
The US non-farm payrolls released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics beat expectations by coming in at 213,000 versus the expected 195,000, but could not boost the greenback. However, the US unemployment rate came in at 4.0%, which was higher than expected, contributing to the greenback’s decline. Average hourly earnings also missed expectations driving the pair lower.
The currency pair’s future performance is likely to be influenced by geopolitical events given the upcoming weekend.
The USD/CAD currency pair was trading at 1.3091 as at 16:14 GMT having dropped from a daily high of 1.3150. The CAD/JPY currency pair was trading at 84.42 having rallied from a low of 84.06.

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