"All told, the kind of news that will underscore that although Canada and the US didn't have materially different first halves. Momentum heading into the second half favours U.S".
-Avery Shenfeld, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
The number of jobless people actively searching for a job in Canada jumped in the seventh month of the year, official data from Statistics Canada revealed on Friday. According to the report, the Canadian economy lost 31,200 jobs in July, following a loss of 700 positions in the preceding month, while market analysts expected the economy to add 10,200 jobs in the reported month. Furthermore, the headline unemployment rate increased to 6.9% in the same month, compared to June's jobless rate of 6.8%. Although July's acceleration was in line with economists' expectations. In the meantime, the participation rate dropped to 65.4% from 65.5% registered in June.
Other data released by Statistics Canada on the same day showed that the country's trade deficit unexpectedly widened in June.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the Canadian trade gap rose to C$3.6 billion in the reported period, whereas May's trade deficit was revised up to C$3.5 billion from the previously reported C$3.3 billion gap. Economic desks predicted the deficit to shrink to C$2.6 billion in the sixth month of the year.
© Dukascopy Bank SA