On Friday, Statistics Canada revealed that 79,500 jobs had been created in November (full time: + 49,900 and part time: +29,000), shattering expectations of 10,000 new positions. The report is consistent with the opinion of our economists that the Canadian job market is holding up better than the Bank of Canada is letting on. It will, therefore, be interesting to see comments from the BoC on this topic on Wednesday after its key rate decision is announced.
In other Canadian news, the country’s economy grew by 1.7% in the third quarter (forecast 1.6%), leading the Canadian dollar to gain more than 150 points against the greenback on Friday. We encourage exporters to take advantage of the situation if you notice a rally in the USD/CAD pair.
In the United States, Republicans cleared a major hurdle to their goal of reforming the U.S. tax structure after their plan was adopted by the Senate. Although experts do not agree on the ultimate effect the reform will have on the actual economy, markets appear to view it favourably, as seen by the gains in the USD this morning, however the CAD is holding strong.
Julien Duquette
Range of the day : 1.2615 -1.2710