MNI DATA IMPACT: Canadian Mfg Sales +1.0%, Top Expectations>

By Yali N'Diaye

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

data on the Canadian manufacturing sales released Friday by Statistics 

Canada: 

     - Sales increased 1.0% on the month, topping the market consensus 

of +0.4%. The upside surprise was reinforced by the upward revision to 

December reading, now at -1.1% instead of the -1.3% initially reported. 

Real sales were up 1.4% on the month, the largest gain since February 

2018, following two months of 1.0% decreases. 

     - Gains were widespread in 15 of 21 industries, representing 55.9% 

of manufacturing trade, with durables up 1.1% and non-durables up 0.8%. 

Petroleum and coal was unchanged as volumes rose 2.0% while prices fell 

1.9%. Aerospace weighed on the headline sales figure, as overall sales 

excluding aerospace were up 1.5%. 

     - Inventories increased 1.2%, leaving the inventory-to-sales ratio 

unchanged at 1.50. 

     - Forward looking indicators were better than the what the headline 

figures suggested. Unfilled orders fell 1.0%, the largest drop since 

November 2017. However, they increased 0.4% excluding aerospace. New 

orders fell 11.9%, following a 10.9% gain in December. They rose 1.2% 

excluding aerospace, the largest increase since February 2018. 

     - The capacity utilization rate climbed 2.6 percentage points to 

78.4%. It increased 3.9 percentage points to 79.8% for non-durable 

industries, and 1.4 percentage points to 77.1% for durables. 

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

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