Canada: Unemployment Rate stays unchanged at 4.9% in July vs. 5% expected

• Unemployment Rate in Canada stayed unchanged at 4.9% in July.
• USD/CAD posts strong daily gains above 1.2950 after the data.

The Unemployment Rate in Canada was virtually unchanged at 4.9% in July, Statistics Canada reported on Friday. This reading came in slightly better than the market expectation of 5%.

On a negative note, Net Change in Employment arrived at -30.6K, missing analysts' estimate for an increase of 20,000 by a wide margin.

"The average hourly wages of employees were up 5.2% (+$1.55 to $31.14) on a year-over-year basis in July, matching the pace of wage growth recorded in June," the publication further read.

Market reaction

The USD/CAD pair rose sharply in the early American session but this move seems to have been fueled by the renewed dollar strength on the upbeat US July jobs report. As of writing, the pair was up 0.75% on the day at 1.2960.