Canada April Retail Sales - Stronger month, trend still subdued
Canada’s 0.7% increase in April retail sales is as expected and signaled with the preliminary estimate made with March’s data but ex autos the rise is much stronger than expected at 1.8%. The advance estimate for May data is however weak at -0.6%.
April data shows sales up by 1.4% ex autos and gasoline. Food at +1.9%, clothing at +2.1% and miscellaneous at +5.7% all showed particularly sharp gains while gasoline saw price-induced gains of 4.5% which are likely to correct in May. Auto slippage more than fully erased gains seen in January and February.
Overall sales were up by 0.5% in volume terms after a 0.5% decline in March and near flat outcomes in January and February, meaning overall trend in retail sales still looks subdued particularly given weak preliminary indicators for May. Still, the Apr data is supportive fir April GDP, which is expected to deliver a modest increase after a flat March.
