Canada’s retail sales declined -0.4% mom in December to CAD 70.0B, slightly better than the -0.5% drop expected. The pullback marks a modest softening in year-end consumer activity, though the headline miss was not as severe as feared.
Core retail sales, which exclude gasoline and motor vehicles, fell -0.3% mom, weighed heavily by a sharp -4.0% contraction in building materials and garden equipment. However, excluding motor vehicle and parts dealers alone, sales edged up 0.1%, suggesting underlying consumer demand was not uniformly weak.
Nevertheless, Statistics Canada’s advance estimate for January points to a strong rebound, with sales projected to rise 1.5% mom.
