U.S. employment figures showed a total of 148,000 new jobs in September, well below the forecasted 180,000. Softening the blow somewhat, we also learned that August jobs figures were revised upward to 193K, which helped made up for September's disappointing number. The greenback is up this morning against the CAD, and appears to want to break out of the range in which it was trading last week.
The bad news did not hold back the S&P 500 however, which closed out the session yesterday at 1754.67, up 0.6%. The Nonfarm Payrolls Report would appear to support the view that the Fed is not favourable to tapering its monthly bond purchases, intended to stimulate growth, as soon as it would have wanted. The next FOMC meeting will be held on October 30.
The Bank of Canada will release its Key Rate and Monetary Policy Report this morning followed by Governor Poloz's press conference. Even though there is virtually no chance of a key rate change, Mr. Poloz's comments will no doubt have an impact on long-term yields. Wishing you a great day! Rana Karim
Range of the day: 1.0280-1.0380