The data, issued
by Statistics Canada on Friday, revealed that Canadian retail sales fell 0.2
per cent m-o-m to CAD66.61 billion in November 2023, following a downwardly
revised 0.5 per cent m-o-m climb (from +0.7 per cent m-o-m) in October. This marked the first drop in retail sales
in three months.
Economists
had expected a flat m-o-m performance in November.
According to
the report, 4 of 9 subsectors witnessed decreases in retail sales in November.
Sales at general merchandise retailers (-1.8 per cent m-o-m) recorded the
largest drop, followed by food and beverage retailers (-1.4 per cent m-o-m), sporting
goods, hobby, musical instrument, book, and miscellaneous retailers (-0.3 per
cent m-o-m), and building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers (-0.1
per cent m-o-m). Meanwhile, clothing, clothing accessories, shoes, jewellery,
luggage and leather goods retailers (+1.5 per cent m-o-m), furniture, home
furnishings, electronics, appliances retailers (+1.0 per cent m-o-m), and motor
vehicle and parts dealers (+0.5 per cent m-o-m) logged in the biggest gains in
retail sales in November.
Excluding auto,
retail sales declined 0.5 per cent m-o-m in November after a downwardly revised 0.4 per cent m-o-m advance (from +0.6
per cent m-o-m) in the previous month, being worse than economists’ forecast of a 0.1
per cent m-o-m slip.
In y-o-y terms,
Canadian retail sales increased 1.8 per cent in November, following a downwardly
revised 1.9 per cent rise (from +2.2 per cent) in the previous month.
Statistics
Canada also reported its preliminary estimates suggest that Canada’s retail
sales jumped 0.8 per cent m-o-m in December 2023.