Forexpros – Canadian wholesale sales declined unexpectedly in January, erasing the previous month’s gain, official data showed on Monday.
In a report, Statistics Canada said wholesale sales fell by 1.0% in January, confounding expectations for a 0.4% gain.
December’s figure was revised to a 1.0% increase from a previously reported gain of 0.9%.
Year-on-year, Canadian wholesale sales rose at an annualized rate of 4.0% in January, after climbing by 6.7% in December.
Canadian wholesale sales totaled CAD49.0 billion in January, largely because of lower sales in the motor vehicles and parts subsector and the miscellaneous subsector.
January’s decrease in sales was the second in three months. The declines followed an upward trend that began in May 2011.
According to the data, six of the seven subsectors, representing almost all wholesale sales, posted decreases.
The declines in the motor vehicles and parts subsector and the miscellaneous subsector accounted for more than three-quarters of the decrease at the national level.
Following the release of the data, the Canadian dollar was fractionally lower against its U.S. counterpart, with USD/CAD easing up 0.03% to trade at 0.9921.
Forexpros
