Canada’s wholesale sales rise in August on personal and household goods

Canada’s wholesale sales rose 0.5 percent in August, coming in line with consensus expectations and below previous month’s 1.5 percent gain, showed Statistics Canada. Wholesale sales rose to CAD 62.8 billion, driven by personal and household goods and motor vehicle and parts subsectors. In terms of volume, wholesale sales grew 0.4 percent.

Out of seven subsectors, sales grew in four, accounting for 47 percent of total wholesale sales. In the personal and household goods subsector, sales grew 3.3 percent. In the motor vehicle and parts sector, sales rose for the third time in four months, rising 2 percent to CAD 11.8 billion.

The miscellaneous subsector rebounded in August after declining for two months. The subsector recorded a gain of 1.6 percent, rising to CAD 8.1 billion. Meanwhile, the building materials and supplies subsector recorded the largest decline in August, declining 3.5 percent. This is the first fall in six months.

Province wise, sales rose were led by Ontario (0.8 percent), Quebec (1 percent), and British Columbia (0.7 percent). In the meantime, sales fell in Alberta by 2 percent.

Wholesale inventories rose for the fifth straight month, rising 0.2 percent to a record CAD 80.8 billion in August. Rises were seen in three of the seven subsectors, accounting for 45 percent of total wholesale inventories.

The inventory-to-sales ratio stayed constant at 1.29 from July to August, indicating that both inventories and sales have been rising at the same rate.

At 13:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of Canadian Dollar was slightly bearish at -61.112, while the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was highly bullish at 110.772. For more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex

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