Canada retail sales dropped -2.5% mom to CAD 61.3B in July, worse than expectation of -2.0% mom. That’s also the first decline in seven months. Sales were down in 9 of 11 subsectors, representing 94.5% of retail trade. The contraction was driven by lower sales at gasoline stations and clothing and clothing accessories stores. Excluding gasoline, and motor vehicle and parts, sales dropped -0.9%.
Based on advance estimate, sales recovered by rising 0.4% mom in August.
