Canadian Monthly Real GDP (April 2020)
Posted on Jun 30, 2020 in Economics
Canadian real GDP decreased 11.6 per cent on a monthly basis in April, reflecting the first full month of measures put in place to halt the spread of COVID-19. April's decline follows a 7.5 per cent contraction in March. April's decline was the largest monthly decline in GDP since the series started to be recorded in 1961. The Canadian economy is n...Canadian Retail Sales (April 2020)
Posted on Jun 19, 2020 in Economics
Seasonally-adjusted Canadian retail sales fell by a staggering 26% in April to $35 billion. The largest drop since the data became available in 1991. About one-third of retailers were closed in April, while in the clothing subsector it was 70%. Sales were down in all subsectors for the first time since 1993, led by auto dealers (-44%), gas stations...Canadian Inflation (May 2020)
Posted on Jun 17, 2020 in Economics
Canadian inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell by 0.4 per cent in May year-over-year. This was the second consecutive month of decline in the CPI since the summer of 2009. Transportation prices were the main drag on inflation due to lower gas prices compared to the same time last year. Rents also declined for the second cons...Canadian Housing Starts (May 2020)
Posted on Jun 08, 2020 in Economics
Canadian housing starts rebounded by 16.2% m/m to 193,453 units in May at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR). Notably, Quebec was not included in last month's numbers, as the province shut down its construction sector due to the pandemic. Outside of Quebec, housing starts decreased in May. The trend in national housing starts fell to an avera...Canadian Employment (May 2020)
Posted on Jun 05, 2020 in Economics
Canadian employment grew by 290,000 jobs in May (1.8%, m/m), representing about 10 per cent of the jobs lost since the pandemic was declared. The number of workers who had their hours reduced also decreased by almost 9 per cent. The national unemployment rate rose by 0.7 percentage points to 13.7 per cent from the previous month, as more individual...Commercial Activity Nosedives in 2020 Q1
Posted on Jun 03, 2020 in Economics
The BCREA Commercial Leading Indicator (CLI) was down sharply in the first quarter of 2020 from 134.2 to 123.2, reflecting the slowdown prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Compared to the same time last year, the index was down by 4.8 per cent.The pandemic-induced shutdown of the economy in the last two weeks of the first quarter of 2020 had a notab...
