Canadian retail sales
- Prior month +0.7% (revised to +0.5%)
- The November advance estimate was 0.0%
- Retail sales for October +0.7% vs +0.8% expected
- Ex auto -0.5% vs -0.1% expected
- Prior month ex auto, +0.6%
- Ex auto and gas -0.6% vs -1.2% last month
- December advanced estimate +0.8%
The December advanced estimate rescues this from being a poor number but there is still a big — and likely growing — gap between Canadian and US consumers. USD/CAD initially dipped on the report but quickly bounced back to unchanged.
The decline in November was led by lower sales at food and beverage retailers (-1.4%) and general merchandise retailers (-1.8%). The largest increase to core retail sales in November came from clothing, clothing accessories, shoes, jewellery, luggage and leather goods retailers (+1.5%).Vehicle sales rose for a third consecutive month at +0.5%.