The data, published
by Statistics Canada on Friday, revealed that Canadian retail sales rose 0.6
per cent m-o-m to CAD67.58 billion in October, following an upwardly revised 0.6
per cent m-o-m increase (from +0.4 per cent m-o-m) in September. Overall, this represented
the fourth straight monthly advance in retail sales.
Economists
had forecast a jump of
0.7 per cent m-o-m for October.
According
to the report, 5 of 9 subsectors showed increases in retail sales in October, led by furniture, home furnishings, electronics and appliances
retailers (+2.5 per cent m-o-m), and motor vehicle and parts dealers (+2.0
per cent m-o-m). Meanwhile, food and beverage
retailers (-0.7 per cent m-o-m), building material (-0.6 per cent m-o-m), and
garden equipment and supplies dealers and gasoline stations and fuel vendors (-0.5
per cent m-o-m) demonstrated the largest declines in retail sales in October.
Excluding auto,
retail sales edged up 0.1 per cent m-o-m in October after an upwardly revised 1.1 per cent m-o-m climb (from +0.9 per
cent m-o-m) in the previous month, being worse than economists’ prediction of a 0.5 per cent gain.
In y-o-y terms,
Canadian retail sales jumped 1.5 per cent in October, following an unrevised 0.8 per cent increase in the previous month. This marked
the strongest annual advance in retail sales since December 2023 (+2.9 per
cent).
Statistics
Canada also said its preliminary estimates suggest that Canada’s retail sales were
flat m-o-m in November.