Canada: Unemployment rises to 5.7% in July vs. 5.5% expected

• Unemployment rate rises to 5.7% despite lower participation rate.
• Loonie comes under heavy bearish pressure on disappointing data.

The data published by Statistics Canada today revealed that the unemployment rate in Canada rose to 5.7% in July from 5.5% in June to come in worse than the market expectation of 5.5%. The total number of employed declined by 24,200 in this period following June's fall of 2,200. 

Further details of the report revealed that the participation rate ticked down to 65.6%.

With the initial market reaction, the USD/CAD pair gained more than 50 pips in a matter of minutes and was last seen trading at 1.3270, adding 0.35% on the day.