MNI: Canada Retails Jump In April After Weak First Quarter
Canadian retail sales rose 0.7% in April for the largest increase since last September, breaking a three-month decline, the federal statistics office said Friday.
While Statistics Canada's April advance figure didn't come with an industry breakdown, March's 0.2% fall was broad-based, with seven of nine sub-sectors declining. The decrease was led by furniture and appliances while motor vehicles and parts partially offset the fall with a 1% increase. The decrease in March was in line with consensus expectations, although lower than the Statistics Canada flash estimate for no change.
After removing price changes, the volume of sales fell by 0.4% in March. That measure is a closer indication of the contribution to gross domestic product.
The weakness in March brought first quarter sales down 0.2%, lower than the advance estimate for a flat quarter, although sales rose by 0.3% in volume terms. Retail sales fell every month in the first quarter, and while the declines were small there hasn't been three straight negative months of reports since 2018.
The first-quarter retail declines come on top of falls in manufacturing and wholesale trade, posing downside risk to the GDP report due for release May 31st. StatsCan's flash estimate from monthly GDP data showed an expected annualized gain of 2.5% in the first quarter. The Bank of Canada has raised borrowing costs 10 times to the highest since 2001 to slow the economy and bring inflation back to target. Officials have said they are seeing signs that slack has opened up in the economy and the time to ease policy is nearing.