PREVIOUS TRADING DAY EVENTS 04 August 2023 

The employment change in Canada had a reported negative figure in July, 6.4K, instead of a big expected positive change, which surprised everyone and shook the market. The jobless rate rose up to 5.5, enforcing analyst expectations that the Bank of Canada BOC will pause rate hikes.

Since inflation is still well above the 2 target, June and July rate hikes took place. BOC is due to make its next announcement in September.

Doug Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets said over the phone I think their the Banks conclusion from this would be that its probably not a bad idea to pause on the rate hike front.

Royce Mendes, director and head of macro strategy at Desjardins, said that todays data reinforce our view that the central bank is done raising rates for this cycle.

Stephen Brown, deputy chief North American economist at Capital Economics said The softer labor market data support our view that the Bank is unlikely to follow through with current market pricing by raising rates further.

Source httpswww.reuters.comworldamericascanadasunemploymentraterises55julyeconomyunexpectedlyshedsjobs20230804 

The Nonfarm Payrolls were reported lower than expected in July, at 187K, while the unemployment rate in the U.S. declined back to 3.5. Remarkably, job gains in May and June were revised lower showing that the effect from hikes was actually stronger. The data for June was actually revised to show 185K jobs added instead…