Manufacturing shipments below estimates

Sales of Canada factory's products fell more than expected in June, marking the fourth drop in six months as sales in the miscellaneous, metal and wood products sectors fell, government figures showed Friday. Sales tumbled 0.5% to $48.2 billion in June, leaving shipments 3.7% below their level a year earlier. Analysts, however, expected a slightly stronger reading of a 0.3% gain. The steepest fall was recorded in miscellaneous manufacturing, which includes jewellery and medical equipment, where sales inched lower 20.2% to $902 million. In addition to that, sales in fabricated metal products dropped 6.5% over the same period, mostly due to lower sales in architectural and structural metals, while sales of wood products fell 7.7%. In contrast, manufacturing sales of petroleum and coal products advanced 7.4% to $6.7 billion. Following Friday's figures, earlier reports showed mixed signals, as retail sales and inflation came below forecasts, reflecting weak domestic demand and vulnerability of economic recovery. A gauge of consumer prices climbed 0.7% last month from the same month a year earlier, following a 0.4% gain in April that was the slowest since October 2009. Additionally, the value of sales edged higher 0.1% totalling 39.52 billion Canadian dollars, compared with an unrevised flat reading in March, adding pressure on the newly-appointed Governor of the nation's central bank to assure that growth will be stable.