Investing.com - The Canadian dollar fell against the U.S. dollar on Friday as a stronger-than-forecast Canadian employment report was overshadowed by better-than-expected U.S. jobs growth.
The Labor Department reported that the U.S. economy added 257,000 jobs in January, far more than the 234,000 forecast by economists. December’s figure was revised to 329,000 from a previously reported 252,000.
While the unemployment rate ticked up to 5.7% last month from December’s 5.6% hourly earnings and the participation rate both saw increases in January.
The upbeat jobs report was strong enough to reinforce expectations for a mid-year rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
At the same time, Statistics Canada reported that the economy added 35,400 jobs in January, well ahead of forecasts of 5,000, while the unemployment rate fell to 6.6% from 6.7% in December.
USD/CAD hit highs of 1.2547 following the data and was at 1.2526 in late trade, up 0.75% for the day.
The safe-haven greenback received an additional boost after ratings agency Standard and Poor’s downgraded Greece late Friday and warned that time is running out for Athens to reach an agreement on a new financing program with creditors.
S&P downgraded Greece to B- from B, one notch above default, and kept the outlook at "negative", indicating that further ratings cuts are possible.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 1.26% to 94.84.
In the week ahead, the economic calendar is light, but the U.S. is to release what will be closely watched data on retail sales and consumer sentiment on Thursday and Friday respectively.
Ahead of the coming week, Investing.com has compiled a list of these and other significant events likely to affect the markets. The guide skips Monday and Tuesday as there are no relevant events on these days.
Wednesday, February 11
The U.S. is to release data on crude oil inventories.
Thursday, February 12
Canada is to publish a report on new house price inflation.
The U.S. is to release reports on retail sales and initial jobless claims.
Friday, February 13
Canada is to release data on manufacturing sales.
The U.S. is to round up the week with preliminary data on consumer sentiment.