Canadian dollar edges lower after monthly jobs data

Loonie tilted lower against the US dollar today, as markets continued to focus on the latest developments of the coronavirus health crisis.

Data showed today that the Canadian economy has added 30.3K new jobs in February, beating forecasts of 10.5K jobs.

The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.6% as expected, but the trade balance reading showed a deficit by CAD 1.5 billion, lower than forecasts of a deficit by CAD 800 million.

While the US economy has added 273K new jobs, and the unemployment rate fell to 3.5% vs. 3.6% in January.

The coronavirus has infected more than 100,000 cases around the globe, and its death toll increased to 3,300 victims.

CAD/USD fell less than 0.1% to 0.7452 as of 17:58 GMT, after hitting earlier a high of 0.7478 and a low of 0.7437.