By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, August 8 – The Canadian dollar tumbled nearly half a U.S. cent late Friday morning amid a huge miss in expectations for job creation in July, analysts say.
At 11:40 CDT Friday morning, the loonie was down 0.33 of a cent to US$0.9108 or US$1 = C$1.0922 as Statistics Canada reported that the economy created a meager 200 jobs during July. Economists had generally expected that 20,000 jobs would be created.
The Canadian unemployment rate dipped 0.1 of a point to 7.0 per cent.
Traders were increasingly risk adverse at the end of the week amid a number of geopolitical tensions that also weighed on the loonie.
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The Russia/Ukraine standoff was a primary focus as traders were concerned over the potential of Russia invading eastern Ukraine in order to prop-up Ukrainian rebels. There is also concern over the how the sanctions and countersanctions could derail a still-fragile economic recovery in Europe.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Barack Obama authorized airstrikes in northern Iraq, warning they would be launched to defend American troops and civilians under siege from Islamic State militants. On top of this, there was a breakdown in the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
At midday on Friday, the Toronto Stock Exchange was up 30.37 points to 15,149.14.
