MNI: 5 Things We Learned From Canadian Wholesale Sales Data>

     OTTAWA (MNI) - The following are the key points from the October 

data on Canadian wholesale sales released Wednesday by Statistics 

Canada: 

     - Wholesale sales rose 1.5% to a record C$63.0 billion in October, 

beating market expectations of a 0.5% gain. September was revised up by 

0.1 percentage point to -1.1% and overall details were robust. 

     - Real sales were up 1.2%, more than erasing September's 1.0% 

decline. 

     - Gains were widespread both by sector and regionally, with 6 of 7 

subsectors and nine provinces recording higher sales. In particular, 

machinery, equipment and supply was up 5.2%, a good sign for investment 

activity. 

     - Motor vehicles and parts was the only category to post a decline 

(-2.3%). Excluding this subsector, wholesale sales rose 2.4% on the 

month, the largest gain since December 2014. 

     - Inventories were up 0.8%, bringing the inventory-to-sales ratio 

to 1.30 from 1.31 the previous month. 

--MNI Ottawa Bureau; email: yali.ndiaye@marketnews.com 

[TOPICS: M$C$$$,MACDS$]