USD/CAD collapses as US Nonfarm payrolls disappoint while Canada adds 150K jobs 5-times expectations

• US Nonfarm payrolls report rose by 210K, lower than the 550K estimated.
• Canadian Employment Change increased 5-times of estimations while the Unemployment Rate falls.
• USD/CAD threatens to break the 200-hour SMA, that once breached, would send the pair tumbling towards 1.2700.

During the New York session, the USD/CAD plunges on a dismal US Nonfarm payrolls report, down 0.46%, trading at 1.2746 at the time of writing. In the last hour, US and Canada reported employment figures.

US Nonfarm payrolls disappoint, while Canadian Employment Change smash expectations

On Friday, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that in November, the US economy added just 210K new jobs, versus the 550K expected. Although the headline miss is substantial, it seems to ease investors’ reaction, as the Unemployment Rate for November fell three tenths from 4.5% in October to 4.2%. 

Apart from the US, the Canadian economic docket, the Employment Change for November, showed that the Canadian economy added 153.7K new jobs, crushing economists’ expectations of 35K. Further, the pace of the labor market accelerated versus the previous month’s figures of just 35K. Worth noting of the employment report, 79.9K of the total jobs are full-time. Another positive from November’s data is that Unemployment Rate dropped from 6.7% to 6.0%.

Market’s reaction

That said, the USD/CAD pair reaction plummeted from 1.2819 down to 1.2760, bouncing off those lows towards 1.2786. However, at the time of writing, USD/CAD is extending its losses severely, as it is testing the S2 daily pivot point at 1.2747.

USD/CAD Price Forecast: Technical outlook

The USD/CAD in the 1-hour chart has a downward bias after printing a 72-pip bearish candle, breaking essential support levels, like the 50 and the 100-hour simple moving averages (SMA’s).

Furthermore, at press time, the 200-hour SMA is under pressure at 1.2742, which, if it gives way, would extend USD losses against the Loonie, which could witness the USD/CAD pair tumbling down to the S3 daily pivot at 1.2717, followed by a test of the 1.2700 figure.