TORONTO - The loonie shook off early losses and moved higher following a much better than expected employment report from Canada's biggest trading partner. The Canadian currency rose 0.11 of a cent to 100.15 cents US after the U.S. Labour Department reported that the economy created 243,000 jobs last month, far higher than the 150,000 jobs that economists had expected. Also, the unemployment rate fell 0.2 of a percentage point to 8.3 per cent. The currency had earlier fallen as low as 99.67 cents US after Statistics Canada reported that the economy created only 2,300 jobs last month, a far cry from the 25,000 that economists had expected. The unemployment rate climbed one notch to 7.6 per cent as more people looked for work. Meanwhile, there was further evidence that the 17-nation eurozone is heading for recession. Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, said retail sales dropped 0.4 per cent during January, in contrast to expectations for an increase of the same amount. The December data reinforced expectations that the eurozone contracted during the fourth quarter of the year. Eurostat is due to publish its first estimate for the quarter on Feb. 15. Commodity prices improved following the American jobs report with the March crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange up 57 cents to US$96.93 a barrel. Prices have softened since Wednesday when data showed a much larger than expected increase in U.S. crude inventories last week. The April copper contract was up five cents to US$3.83 a pound. However, bullion prices declined with the April contract down $1.40 to US$1,755.40 an ounce.

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