Canada's GDP growth was driven principally by a pick-up in inventory accumulation: Capital Economics

Quotes from Capital Economics:

- The 2.4% annualised gain in Canadian fourth-quarter GDP (released on Tuesday) looks encouraging enough. It means the Canadian economy expanded at a slightly faster pace than the US (2.2%) and the outturn was above the consensus forecast at 2.0%. 

- Looking at the detail, it's also notable that growth was driven principally by a pick-up in inventory accumulation, which is never an encouraging sign. 

- The Bank of Canada expects growth to pick up in the second half of this year but, if the mining downturn is compounded by a housing slowdown, then we fear that may not happen.