Canadian labour market closes 2019 on a bright note – TD Securities

"The Canadian economy added 35k jobs in December, reversing roughly half of the decline from November," noted TD Securities analysts.

Key quotes

"The underlying details were broadly positive, with hiring concentrated in full-time positions and a roughly even split between the goods and services sectors. The unemployment rate fell from 5.9% to 5.6%."

"If there was one wrinkle in the report, it was a larger than expected slowdown in wage growth (average hourly earnings for permanent employees slowed from +4.4% y/y to +3.8% y/y). We'd emphasize that 3.8% is still an objectively strong growth rate, and LFS wage growth has been running hotter than other comparable metrics."

"FX: The data beat is helpful but doesn't alter the shifting macro narrative for CAD relative to other currencies. We still like AUDCAD higher in the short-run and think the data-inspired dip will welcome new buying opportunities in USDCAD en route to 1.32."