The Daily Chase: Jobs numbers in Canada and U.S. are out

Here are five things you need to know this morning.

Canada shed jobs last month: Canada’s economy came in well below expectations on the employment front this morning, with new numbers from Statistics Canada showing the job market shed 1,400 positions in June. That’s well below the roughly 25,000 jobs that were expected to be added and the more than 40,000 that would have been required just to keep up with growth in the labour force. As a result, the jobless rate inched up to 6.4 per cent. That’s the highest level since 2022. The weak jobs number increases the likelihood that the Bank of Canada will feel comfortable cutting its benchmark interest rate again later this month.  

U.S. adds almost 210,000 jobs: The U.S. economy, meanwhile, added 206,000 new jobs last month. The figure came in ahead of expectations but still represents a slowdown from the hiring pace seen through most of 2023. Despite the new jobs, the U.S. unemployment rate ticked up to 4.1 per cent as more people joined the labour force, too. The relative slowdown in hiring, alongside cooling inflation, bolsters expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will start cutting rates later this year too. While there’s a slim chance of a cut when the Fed meets later this month, the odds of a cut jump to almost 75 per cent for the following meeting in September.

Ottawa signs off on Glencore-Teck coal deal: The federal government has signed off on the US$6.9 billion deal that will see Glencore buy Teck Resources’ coal business. Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said the government has given its OK to the deal to sell Elk Valley Resources as long as a number of “stringent conditions” are met, including a requirement for Teck to reinvest a significant portion of the proceeds into its copper portfolio, which the government views as a critical mineral. The CEO of TSX-listed Teck told Bloomberg that the deal marks a new era for the Vancouver-based miner, allowing the company to move its focus to other metals, including copper. Separately, Teck announced that it will be buying back $2 billion of its own shares.