BLBG:Canadian Dollar Drops From Parity as January Job Growth Misses Forecast
Canada’s dollar dropped against its U.S. counterpart after a government report showed employers added fewer jobs last month than economists forecast and the unemployment rate unexpectedly increased.
“Another disappointing number,” said Blake Jespersen, director of foreign exchange at Bank of Montreal in Toronto, in a telephone interview. “I don’t think the Canadian dollar will weaken off that much. The strength we’ve seen in the Canadian dollar has been pretty much related to U.S. dollar weakness.”
The currency depreciated 0.2 percent to C$1.0016 per U.S. dollar at 7:10 a.m. in Toronto. One Canadian dollar buys 99.84 U.S. cents.
The jobless rate rose to 7.6 percent from 7.5 percent as employment increased by 2,300 last month, Statistics Canada said today. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News had forecast unemployment to stay at 7.5 percent and 22,000 jobs to be added.
U.S. employers added 140,000 positions in January, economists in another Bloomberg News poll projected before the Labor Department’s report at 8:30 a.m. in Washington.
The Canadian dollar, nicknamed the loonie for the image of the aquatic bird on the C$1 coin, touched a level stronger than parity with the U.S. dollar last week for the first time since November. It slid 2.3 percent in 2011.
The currency rose 1.1 percent against the greenback last week in its third straight five-day advance as commodities gained after the Federal Reserve pledged to extend its freeze on U.S. interest rates and said the option for further moves to stimulate the economy remains open.
To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Fournier in Halifax, Nova Scotia, at cfournier3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dave Liedtka at dliedtka@bloomberg.net
