Market Commentary
Job Market Growth Pushing Interest Rates Up
June 11, 2013 | Posted by: Francine Tracey
Today we are seeing 5-year mortgage rates tick up to as high as 3.09%. Why the sudden surge? Excellent job market reports from both the US and Canada...
Some 175,000 jobs were created in the US last month, higher than forecasts but not high enough to start fretting about the Fed taking their foot off the monetary gas pedal. The Canadian employment report was blockbuster, adding 95,000 jobs in May which was six times average forecasts and the strongest growth in over a decade. The unemployment rate ticked down to 7.1% even as more Canadians entered the workforce. The strong US data sent gold lower, which has the TSX down 9 pts despite the fact that the majority of stocks higher. Market screens are almost universally in the green, with the Dow up 165 pts.