Canada retail sales fell in September after short-lived rebound
BNN Bloomberg
Canadian retail sales petered out in September after a stronger-than-expected rebound in the previous month.
Receipts for retailers dropped 0.5 per cent last month, according to an advance estimate released Friday by Statistics Canada. That erases much of a 0.7 per cent jump in August, according to the agency, and brings sales down near July levels, a very weak month that saw receipts fall by 2.2 per cent -- the biggest drop in more than a year.
The August rebound, however, was stronger than economist forecasts for a 0.2 per cent gain and preliminary estimates from the statistics agency of a 0.4 per cent increase. The gain was led by grocery and auto sales. In volume terms, sales jumped 1.1 per cent in August.
The report suggests there was a boost in August to household purchasing power from falling gasoline prices, but it was short-lived as the Bank of Canada’s rate hikes continue to impact consumer demand. Recent economic data suggest the Canadian economy has already begun to slow down from a strong first half of 2022.
