Highlights of the May Canadian retail sales report from Statistics Canada:
- Prior reading was +1.1% (prior revised to +1.3%)
- Ex-autos +0.1% vs +0.3% exp
- Prior ex-autos +0.7% (revised to +0.8%)
The market is being pulled in 3 different directions on a strong headline, weak ex-autos and better revisions.
Digging through the numbers, ex-autos and gas were down 0.3%and electronics/appliances were down 1.7% (and -1.2% y/y) along with weakness in general merchandise, departments stores and other general stores. The one good sign comes from a 3.7% rise in furniture and home furnishings, which is a sign of consumer confidence in big ticket items.
Overall, USD/CAD has some momentum to the downside but this won’t add to it. Last at 1.0718 which is unchanged from when the report was released.
Canadian retail sales
