Canadian retail sales dropped 1.7 per cent in January, performing even below consensus expectations. Sales decreased in 7 of 11 sub-sectors, including autos/parts dealers (1.4 per cent). Other areas suffering losses include gasoline, general merchandise, sporting goods, health/personal care products, furniture and food/beverages. Modest increases in electronics, clothing, building materials, and miscellaneous items weren’t enough to compensate.
Alberta retail spending plummeted for the fourth month in a row. Nationwide, our GDP may have shrunk as much as 0.4 per cent in January. Some of this may have been due to the abnormally wintery weather – so perhaps there will be a bit of bounce back in sale over the coming months as people make the purchases they put off earlier in the year. But with the poor start, it looks like the annualized first quarter GDP growth could be under 1 per cent.
Sales were down in 14 of 21 broad industries, resulting in a 1.7 per cent drop in manufacturing shipments. The 3.1 per cent slump in wholesale sales more than negated December’s gain of 2.8 per cent.
Job vacancies rose in December to 1.7 per cent in finance/insurance and an impressive 2.7 per cent in health care. but vacancy rates plunged in other sectors bring the overall vacancy rate to just 1.5 per cent.
