Strong job gains seen

OTTAWA—Canada’s domestic economy turned in one of the strongest job creation months of the year in September, adding an eye-popping 52,100 new jobs that was five times more than economists expected.
But it was the labour data south of the border that drew the superlatives from economists and markets—which, if true, suggest the U.S. recovery finally is underway.

The U.S. Labour Department said today morning that 114,000 new jobs were created in September, but more importantly revised upwards its data for July and August—adding 86,000 jobs to those two months.
For the three months, job creation averaged 146,000 and took the unemployment rate to 7.8 percent—the lowest in four years.
The Canadian dollar jumped more than half-a-cent on the news to 102.62 cents (U.S.) by midday, and markets were solidly up in both Toronto and New York.
“I think [the U.S.] is the bigger news today, even for Canada,” said Bank of Montreal deputy chief economist Doug Porter.
“This is exactly what the Canadian economy needs right now because the consumer is close to being tapped out, housing doesn’t have any more room to grow, the government sector is cutting back, [and] business are understandably cautious,” he noted.
“So what we really need now is exports and exports need the U.S. economy to get going.”