"As long as we don't see a strong upward shift in commodity prices, we expect the Canadian dollar will maintain its weakening trajectory for the remainder of 2013"
-Craig Wright, senior vice-president and chief economist at RBC
Sales of Canada factory's products soared more than expected in July, ending a streak of fourth monthly drops in six months benefiting from makers of commodities from oil to lumber, government figures showed Tuesday. Sales advanced 1.7% to $49.5 billion in July, recovering from the previous month's 0.1% drop. Analysts, however, expected a slightly weaker reading of a 0.5% gain. The most noticeable gains were reported in the manufacturing sales of long-lasting goods, where sales rose 2.1%, with miscellaneous and wood product rising 23.9% and 6.3%, respectively. Non-durable goods also ticked up on gains in the petroleum and coal production. Annually, manufacturing shipments, however, fell 0.1%.
Also Tuesday the Royal Bank of Canada- country's biggest bank, pointed out the economy should expand more than expected this year and in 2014, on the back of strong exports and the U.S. recovery. The bank now sees Canada GDP to grow 1.8% in 2013 and accelerate to 2.8% over the next year. Moreover, they forecast shipments to rise significantly in the second quarter, while the main reason for the optimism comes from the world's largest economy, which is expected to build up steam. Furthermore, Canadian labour market is likely to stabilize, with the overall unemployment falling from the current 7.1% to 6.6% in 2014.
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