Canadian Dollar Falls After Jobs Shock as Strong US Payrolls Boost Dollar

The Canadian dollar weakened on Friday after Canada's economy lost 41,700 jobs in August, according to Statistics Canada data. This was a sharp contrast to the stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs report, which showed that U.S. employers added 162,000 jobs in August.

USD/CAD rose about 0.5% on the day to around 1.3862, with investors digesting the divergent labour-market reports. Alex Tsepaev, Chief Strategy Officer of B2PRIME Group, said that 'the sharp decline in labor market puts pressure on the Canadian dollar, and this pressure could continue over the next few weeks.'

The employment rate slipped 0.1 percentage point to 60.8%, while average hourly wages rose 2% from a year earlier, slowing from 2.8% in July.