The data, released by Statistics Canada on Friday, showed that Canadian retail sales increased 0.4
per cent m-o-m to CAD66.94 billion in September, following an unrevised 0.4 per cent m-o-m advance in August. Overall, this was
the third straight monthly gain in retail sales.
Economists
had forecast a rise of
0.4 per cent m-o-m for September.
According
to the report, 6 of 9 subsectors showed gains in retail sales in September, led by food and beverage retailers (+3.0 per cent m-o-m) and
building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers (+3.0 per cent
m-o-m). Meanwhile, gasoline stations and fuel
vendors (-2.3 per cent m-o-m) demonstrated the biggest decline in retail
sales in September.
Excluding auto,
retail sales jumped 0.9 per cent m-o-m in September after a downwardly revised 0.8 per cent m-o-m drop (from -0.7
per cent m-o-m) in the previous month, being better than economists’ forecast
of a 0.5 per cent advance.
In y-o-y terms,
Canadian retail sales climbed 0.8 per cent in September, following an unrevised 1.4 per cent surge in the previous month. This was
the weakest annual increase in retail sales in three months.
Statistics
Canada also noted its preliminary estimates suggest that Canada’s retail sales soared 0.7 per cent m-o-m in October.