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Today’s top headlines
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8:50 a.m.
U.S. jobs numbers defy expectations in sign of economic resilience
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Friday’s report from the Labor Department showed that hiring last month jumped from a 227,000 increase in August, which was revised sharply higher. July’s hiring was also healthier than initially estimated. The economy has now added a healthy average of 266,000 jobs a month in the past three months.
The unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.8 per cent.
The job market has defied an array of threats this year, notably high inflation and the rapid series of United States Federal Reserve interest rate hikes that were intended to conquer it. Though the Fed’s hikes have made loans much costlier, steady job growth has helped fuel consumer spending and kept the economy growing.
The September hiring report comes at a time when the Fed is scrutinizing every piece of incoming economic data to decide whether it needs to raise its benchmark rate once more this year or instead just leave it elevated well into 2024.
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Financial Post, The Associated Press
8:30 a.m.
Canada adds 64,000 jobs in September
On average, employment has grown by 30,000 per month since the beginning of the year, Statistics Canada said.
Average hourly wages rose five per cent on an annual basis, following increases of 4.9 per cent in August and five per cent in July. Wage growth has been a key concern for the Bank of Canada in its fight against inflation.
Gains in part-time work drove September’s job gains, Statistics Canada said. Educational services had the most job growth, followed by transportation and warehousing. But employment dropped in finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing, construction and information, culture and recreation.
Financial Post, with additional reporting from The Canadian Press
7:45 a.m.
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Canada welcomes NAFTA ruling on U.S. softwood lumber duties
A statement from Mary Ng, Canada’s minister of international trade, says the government is pleased that the NAFTA dispute panel agreed with its challenge of American’s so-called “dumping determination.”
Under the U.S. Tariff Act, the Department of Commerce determines whether goods are being sold at less than fair value or if they’re benefiting from subsidies provided from other governments.
Ng’s statement says the duties on Canadian softwood lumber are “unwarranted” and “the only fair outcome” is for the U.S. government to revoke them right away.
The statement says the NAFTA panel directed the U.S. Department of Commerce to review key aspects of its dumping determination.
B.C. Forests Minister Bruce Ralston issued a statement saying it’s “encouraging” to see the panel agree with the “extensive evidence” supporting Canada’s claims.
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“Today, a NAFTA panel determined that the U.S. Department of Commerce erred in how it calculated important aspects of the anti-dumping duties applied to Canadian softwood lumber exports,” he says in the statement released Thursday.
“Time and again, neutral third-party reviews of the softwood lumber dispute have confirmed these duties are unjustified,” Ralston says.
The minister says U.S. duties are hurting people on both sides of the border, increasing material costs for Americans, and creating uncertainty for forestry professionals and communities in Canada.
Ng says Canada will “continue to advocate for Canadian softwood lumber workers and industry as we pursue other legal challenges of unjustifiable U.S. duties.”
The Canadian Press
7:30 a.m.
Unifor facing resistance from GM in talks as dissent grows within union ranks
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National president Lana Payne says some progress has been made in the talks with GM, but that there’s nothing automatic about having the company agree to the same terms the union reached with Ford Motor Co.
The union reached a last-minute deal with Ford on Sept. 19 that Payne said was “extremely good.” It’s now trying to get GM to agree to those terms in a tactic called pattern bargaining, where terms set at one automaker are repeated at the others as a way to make sure all members make equal gains.
“I would definitely say we’re meeting some resistance,” said Payne. “This is not surprising. The idea of pattern bargaining is not exactly something that these companies love.”
But it’s not just GM that Unifor has to bring onside. It also has to convince workers that the deal is good enough for them.
Union members at Ford voted just 54 per cent in favour of their deal, and it was voted down by skilled trades members in Windsor and Oakville.
Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press
Stock markets: Before the opening bell
Global stocks gained with United States index futures as traders prepared for a U.S. payrolls report that could potentially ease pressure on the United States Federal Reserve to raise interest rates again.
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Insurers led gains in Europe’s Stoxx 600 index, after Aviva PLC was cited in a newspaper as a target for potential bidders. Prudential, Legal & General Group and Phoenix also rose.
U.S. equity futures ticked higher after the S&P 500 fell 0.1 per cent Thursday and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 slipped 0.4 per cent. Tesla Inc. slipped in premarket trading as the electric-vehicle maker cut prices on its most popular cars in the U.S.
Bloomberg
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Additional reporting by The Canadian Press, Associated Press and Bloomberg
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