Published: 2024-03-22T12:46:09.000Z
Canada January Retail Sales - Details more resilient than headline dip
Senior Economist , North America
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Canada’s 0.3% decline in January retail sales is in line with a -0.4% estimate made with December’s report though ex autos a 0.5% increase was seen while in volume terms sales increased by 0.2% including autos. The preliminary indicator for February is for a rise of 0.1%.
While far from strong, the details are stronger than most expected and support the view that while Canadian GDP has been subdued in recent quarters, it does not appear to be slipping into recession. Sales rose by 0.4% ex autos and gasoline.
Weakness was seen in autos at -2.4% and food at -0.9%. Building materials and electronics with respective gains of 2.2% and 1.9% provided some offset. General merchandise rise by a modest 0.2% in line with the underlying picture.
