The data, released
by Statistics Canada on Friday, revealed that Canadian retail sales decreased 0.4
per cent to CAD69.33
billion in February, following an unrevised
0.6 per cent m-o-m decline in January.
Economists
had expected a drop of 1.6
per cent m-o-m in February.
According
to the report, 4 out of 9 subsectors recorded
declines in retail sales in February, including furniture, home furnishings,
electronics and appliances retailers (-2.9 per cent m-o-m), Building material
and garden equipment and supplies dealers (-2.8 per cent m-o-m), clothing,
clothing accessories, shoes, jewelry, luggage and leather goods retailers (-2.7
per cent m-o-m), motor vehicle and parts dealers (-2.6 per cent m-o-m).
Excluding auto,
retail sales increased 0.5 per cent m-o-m in February after a downwardly revised 0.1 per cent m-o-m uptick (from +0.2
per cent m-o-m) in the previous month, being much better than economists’ forecast
of a 0.4 per cent fall.
In y-o-y terms,
Canadian retail sales rose 4.7 per cent in February, following an upwardly
revised 5.3 per cent surge (from +4.2 per cent) in the previous month. That marked
the weakest annual advance in retail sales in three months.
Statistics
Canada also said its preliminary estimates suggest that Canada’s retail sales jumped 0.7 per cent m-o-m in March.