Investing.com - Retail sales in Canada showed strength in the first month of 2017 after ending the prior year on a sour note, bolstering optimism over the Canadian economy, official data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, Statistics Canada said that Canadian, retail sales rose by 2.2% in January, compared to forecasts for a 1.1% advance and after a 0.4% decline in the prior month, that was revised from an initial drop of 0.5%.
Core retail sales, excluding automobiles, increased by 1.7% in January, after a 0.5% decline in the preceding month which was revised from an initial 0.3% fall.
Analysts had expected Canadian core retail sales to rise 1.1% in January.
After the report, which was released simultaneously with inflation data, USD/CAD traded at 1.3292, compared to 1.3316 prior to the release.