The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that Canada's unemployment rate ticked down in January as the labour market added 76,000 jobs, beating economist expectations for the month and furthering speculation the Bank of Canada will not cut interest rates next month. The Globe's Jason Kirby writes that the jobless rate ticked down 0.1 percentage point to 6.6 per cent, marking the second straight monthly decline after peaking at 6.9 per cent in November, Statistics Canada reported Friday. Economists polled by Reuters had expected only about a third of those new jobs, and for the unemployment rate to rise slightly. CIBC senior economist Andrew Grantham said the report was clearly very positive, but believes rates still need to move lower. "Even after the improvement seen during the past two months, the unemployment rate is still only just back to where it stood in October, and is still consistent with a labour market with plenty of slack," he said in a note to clients. "We continue to think that even lower interest rates will be needed for the economy to fully absorb that slack, particularly given heightened trade uncertainty which could impact hiring decisions ahead." The Bank of Canada next meets on March 12.