31 October 2019

“The sources of bad influence may change each month, but Canada’s economy still shows mediocre performance,” – noted CIBC Capital Market’s Avery Shenfeld.

“Although the Bank of Canada predicts weak results in the fourth quarter, there’s still a chance to change that in case monthly growth keeps varying from 0.0% to 0.1%,” – he added.

August saw Canada’s manufacturing sector growing by 0.5%, mostly due to higher sales, following passive July. The report says durable manufacturing was up by 1.0%, but non-durable manufacturing fell by 0.2%.

Meanwhile, oil and gas extraction were down by 1.6%, and oil sands extraction also contracted by 3.6%, marking the fourth consecutive month of decreases, caused by facility maintenance shutdowns.

In addition to it, Statscan says producer prices fell unexpectedly by 0.1% last month, pushed down by lower prices for meat, fish and dairy products. At the same time, raw materials prices showed no changes following an August decline by 1.8%.