Investing.com - Canada's economy stagnated in October, while retail sales came in below expectations, fueling concerns over the country’s economic outlook and boosting speculation policymakers will provide fresh stimulus to boost growth, official data showed on Wednesday.
In a report, Statistics Canada said gross domestic product was unchanged in October from a month earlier, disappointing forecasts for growth of 0.2%. Canada’s economy shrank 0.5% in September.
Year-over-year, Canada’s economy contracted at an annualized rate of 0.2%, worse than expectations for a decline of 0.1% and following growth of 0.1% in the preceding month.
A separate report showed that core retail sales, which exclude automobile sales, were flat in October, missing expectations for a 0.4% increase. Core sales fell by 0.4% in the prior month.
Total retail sales increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.1%, compared to forecasts for a 0.4% gain, after falling 0.4% in September. Sales were up in 7 of 11 subsectors, representing 59% of retail trade.
USD/CAD was trading at 1.3918 from around 1.3912 ahead of the release of the data.