Canada jobs data

Ottawa (Rajeev Sharma): Canada’s labour market showed signs of cooling in December as the country added only 8,200 net new jobs, following three months of strong gains, while the unemployment rate rose to 6.8 per cent, according to data released by Statistics Canada on Friday. The increase in unemployment came as more people entered the labour force in search of work. The figures contrasted with market expectations, as analysts surveyed by Reuters had predicted a loss of around 5,000 jobs and an unemployment rate of 6.6 per cent. Following the data release, the Canadian dollar weakened slightly, trading at 72.05…