Investing.com -The U.S. dollar rose to more than five-year highs against the Canadian dollar on Friday following the release of a particularly strong U.S. jobs report and unexpectedly weak Canadian employment data.
The U.S. economy added 321,000 jobs in November the Department of Labor said, far more than the 225,000 forecast by economists and the largest monthly increase in almost three years.
September’s figure was revised up to 243,000 from a previously reported 214,000 and the unemployment rate remained unchanged at a six-year low of 5.8%.
The report also showed that average hourly earnings rose by a larger than forecast 0.4% and were 2.1% higher on a year-over-year basis.
The unusually strong jobs report prompted markets to bring forward expectations for the first hike in U.S. interest rates to mid-2015 from September 2015 ahead of the data.
At the same time, Statistics Canada reported that the Canadian economy unexpectedly shed 10,700 jobs last month, following two months of strong jobs growth.
Economists had expected the economy to create 5,300 jobs.
The Canadian unemployment rate ticked up to 6.6% from 6.5% in October, in line with expectations.
USD/CAD hit highs of 1.1476, the most since July 14, 2009 before pulling back to 1.1435 in late trade, still up 0.46% for the day.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, hit a peak of 89.50, the strongest level since March 2009 and ended the day up 0.82% to 89.39.
In the week ahead investors will be awaiting Thursday’s U.S. data on retail sales and jobless claims and Friday’s report on consumer sentiment for further indications on the strength of the economic recovery.
Monday will bring a look at Canada’s housing sector, but the economic calendar is light for the rest of the week, with no major economic reports scheduled for release.
Ahead of the coming week, Investing.com has compiled a list of significant events likely to affect the markets. The guide skips Tuesday and Wednesday as there are no relevant events on these days.
Monday, December 8
Canada is to produce data on building starts and housing permits.
Thursday, December 11
Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz is to speak at an event in New York; his comments will be closely watched.
The U.S. is to release data on retail sales, the government measure of consumer spending, as well as the weekly report on jobless claims.
Friday, December 12
The U.S. is to round up the week with data on producer prices and a preliminary report on consumer sentiment.