Canada’s economic growth likely to have accelerated in Q1 2017, says TD Economics

Canada’s economy is likely to have grown in the March quarter. According to a TD Economics research report, the Canadian economy is expected to have expanded 4 percent quarter-on-quarter annualized. Most of the growth can be attributable to the 4.6 percent growth in consumer spending, with particular strength expected in durables spending, which rose 12.5 percent given solid auto sales in the quarter. Investment is also expected to have grown healthily. Higher frequency indicators of business investment imply a recovery of non-residential structures investment, with a sounder pace pf growth forecast for residential investment, noted TD Economics.

A huge growth in business investment after the earlier quarter’s destocking is expected and likely to have contributed around 2 percentage points to the economic growth. On the other hand, imports are expected to have recovered significantly after the decline recorded in the earlier quarter.

Meanwhile, in March, industry-level GDP is expected to have come in at 0.1 percent growth. Growth is expected to have been heavily tilted towards the service sector, with a solid contribution from retail and wholesale activity while another huge rise in existing home sales would underpin the real estate industry.

A deceleration in durable goods manufacturing is expected to have been a drag on economic growth in the goods-producing sector. The weak print for March GDP is likely to provide a relatively weak handoff to the second quarter, where growth is likely to moderate to a mid-2 percent rate, stated TD Economics.

At 23:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of Canadian Dollar was bullish at 73.9787, while the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was neutral at 43.1375. For more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex