- Bank of Canada
Canada's retail sales data surprised to the upside, posting better than expected numbers in August. Sales increased for the fourth consecutive month, jumping 0.5% to C$43.6 billion in the reported month, reaching the highest dollar-value on record, according to Statistics Canada. Moreover, July's figure was revised upwards to show a 0.6% gain. Volume also increased 0.7% in August, marking the biggest rise since February. The freshly released numbers provided an upbeat outlook for the monthly and quarterly GDP figures as well as the Loonie Dollar, as sales beat market consensus, which had expected to see a modest 0.1% increase. Meanwhile, core retail sales, which exclude volatile automobile and parts sales, remained flat, following an upwardly revised 0.1% tick up in July.
Earlier in the week, the Bank of Canada left its key overnight lending rate unchanged at 0.5% after cutting it twice this year, saying that nation's economy rebounded as predicted in July. The central bank downgraded its growth outlook for 2016 and 2017. The BoC expected the nation's economic output to increase by just over 1.0% in 2015 and 2.0% in 2016, compared with a July forecast of 2.3% growth next year. For 2017, growth is predicted to be 2.5% instead of 2.6%. At the same time, the bank said Canada's inflation evolved in line with the BoC's forecasts, remaining near the bottom of the target range.
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