Canada’s dollar dropped for the first time in three days after a government report showed the jobless rate unexpectedly increased in October as the nation’s employers eliminated positions. The Canadian currency, nicknamed the loonie for the image of the aquatic bird on the C$1 coin, extended its weekly decline on increased speculation that the Bank of Canada will lower borrowing costs. “It’s a miss in a very meaningful way,” said Jack Spitz, managing director of foreign exchange at National Bank of Canada in Toronto, in a telephone interview. “This is likely to contribute to some Canada lagging.” The loonie depreciated 1.2 percent to C$1.0191 per U.S. dollar at 7:15 a.m. Toronto time, extending its first weekly drop since September to 2.7 percent. One Canadian dollar buys 98.14 U.S. cents. Employment fell by 54,000 jobs last month after an increase of 60,900 jobs in September, Statistics Canada said today in Ottawa. The unemployment rate rose to 7.3 percent from 7.1 percent, which was the lowest since December 2008. The Canadian currency rallied 1 percent during the week ended Oct. 7, when the statistics agency reported that the economy added more than four times as many jobs in September as analysts had forecast. Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney reiterated on Nov. 2 that the outlook for the Canadian economy has weakened since July. Carney made the comment in his statement to a Senate committee. The central bank held its target lending rate at 1 percent last month. To contact the reporters on this story: Chris Fournier in Halifax, Nova Scotia, at cfournier3@bloomberg.net; Frederic Tomesco in Montreal at tomesco@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dave Liedtka at dliedtka@bloomberg.net

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