Canada: Economy treads water in August
Economic growth came in at 0.1% in monthly terms in August, on the heels of a stronger 0.2% month-on-month expansion in July. August’s print overshot analysts’ expectations of an essentially flat reading. According to Statistics Canada, only a fraction of industrial sectors notched improvement; although services-producing industries outpaced goods-producing ones, most gains were concentrated in the extractives sector. For their part, buoyant markets lifted the finance and insurance sector.
On an annual basis, growth ticked up to 2.5% from 2.3% in July. Meanwhile, annual average growth dipped to 2.9% from 3.0% a month earlier.