Canada: Unemployment Rate declines to 5.1% in November vs. 5.3% expected

Unemployment Rate in Canada declined modestly in November.
USD/CAD trades in positive territory at around 1.3500.

Eren Sengezer FXStreet

The data published by Statistics Canada revealed on Friday that the Unemployment Rate declined to 5.1% in November from 5.2% in October. This reading came in better than the market expectation of 5.3%.

Further details of the publication showed that the Net Change in Employment was +10.1K, slightly higher than analysts' estimate of +5K.

"The number of people employed on a full-time basis increased by 51,000 (+0.3%) in November," Statistics Canada noted. "Since November 2021, when full-time employment first surpassed its pre-COVID-19 pandemic level, full-time work has grown by 460,000 (+2.9%), concentrated among core-aged men (+212,000; +3.5%) and women (+169,000; +3.4%)."

Market reaction

USD/CAD rose sharply in the early North American session as the upbeat November jobs report from the US provided a boost to the US Dollar. As of writing, the pair was up 0.5% on the day at 1.3500.

Author

Eren Sengezer

FXStreet

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

EUR/USD clings to gains around 1.1800

EUR/USD manages to regain composure and retests the 1.1800 region in quite a positive start to the week. The pair’s bounce follows the US Dollar’s offered stance post-SCOTUS ruling ahead of important US data and Fedspeak on Tuesday.

GBP/USD treads water near 1.3500 as BoE-Fed divergence debate stalls

GBP/USD spent Monday spinning in place as market participants await a fresh catalyst to break the pair out of its recent range. The BoE's February hold came with a surprisingly dovish 5-4 split, and UK Consumer Price Index data last week showed inflation easing to 3.0%, reinforcing the case for earlier rate cuts, with most economists now looking to April or March for the next move.

Gold climbs above $5,200 on geopolitical tensions, trade uncertainty

Gold price jumps to around $5,230 during the early Asian session on Tuesday. The rally of the precious metal is bolstered by heightened geopolitical tensions and global trade uncertainty following US tariff decisions. Traders brace for the US January Producer Price Index report on Friday for fresh impetus.

Solana DeFi platform Step Finance to close operations following treasury hack

The Solana based decentralized finance platform Step Finance announced it will end all operations effective immediately following a breach that drained its treasury.

Supreme Court nixes tariffs, Trump teases 15% global tariff

On February 20th, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump’s global tariffs under IEEPA authority were unconstitutional, effectively nullifying the framework. However, the relief was short-lived. Within hours, Trump floated a 15% blanket tariff under an alternative legal authority.

XRP recovers slightly as bearish sentiment dominates crypto market

Ripple is rising above $1.40 at the time of writing on Monday amid fresh tariff-triggered headwinds in the broader cryptocurrency market. The sell-off to $1.33, the token’s intraday low, can be attributed to macroeconomic uncertainty, geopolitical tensions and risk-averse sentiment among other factors.