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Sep 2, 2019, 12:00 PM GMT
#UnemploymentRate

September Begins with Major Unemployment Data Releases in the US and Canada

The two most significant economic events for the week ahead will be the Non-Farm Payrolls in the United States and the Unemployment Report in Canada, both scheduled for Friday. The two countries will release their respective economic findings simultaneously at 12.30pm CET, which means that heightened volatility can be expected for the USDCAD pair around noon on Friday.

In Canada, the unemployment rate has risen with 0.1 per cent in June from the recorded 5.4 per cent rate in the previous month, and the overall unemployment has appreciated with an additional 0.2 per cent in July. Thus, the Canadian economy has experienced two consecutive months of gradually increasing unemployment, which could become potentially start worrying local investors if Friday’s report demonstrates that the trend has been maintained throughout August as well.

Should the unemployment rate rise to 5.8 per cent or above, the Bank of Canada would have to reconsider its monetary policy and perhaps even weigh in on a potential rate cut, as the economy would be transitioning away from a status of full employment.

As regards the United States, the unemployment remained unchanged last month at 3.7 per cent, and the labour market is still exhibiting resilience currently operating at close to full employment. However, revisions of past Non-Farm Payrolls reports demonstrate that ‘employment gains in May and June combined were 41 000 less than previously reported’ [source] . Thus, the average monthly job gains for the past three months have been estimated to be at 140 000, and if Friday's NFP reports fewer new jobs to have been created in August, the US dollar could be weakened as a result of the report's sluggish outlook.

As per usual the NFP data will be closely scrutinized by the FED as it is an essential measurement of the underlying monetary policy's effectiveness, and should the labour market exhibit early signs of moving away from full-employment, the FOMC might be inclined to consider further interventions by the end of 2019.

Moreover, Jerome Powell is scheduled to deliver a speech on Friday following the release of the NFP report, and his commentary is expected to focus at least partially on the labour market conditions in the country and any possible interest rate alterations by the end of the year.

Overall, the USDCAD is currently forming an ascending triangle formation on the 4H chart, and the momentum is temporarily looking stagnant; however, the condition of this low-volatility environment should be broken once the momentum starts to build up once again. Friday's simultaneous release of the two countries' unemployment data could trigger one such volatility outburst, which could, in turn, cause the momentum to pick up and break this low-volatility environment.