Investing.com - Retail sales in Canada showed a much larger-than-expected increase in April, bolstering optimism over the Canadian economy, official data showed on Thursday.
In a report, Statistics Canada said that Canadian, retail sales increased by 0.8% in April, compared to forecasts for a 0.2% gain and after a 0.5% advance in the prior month, that was revised from an initial rise 0.7%.
Core retail sales, excluding automobiles, rose by 1.5% in April, after a 0.1% decline in the preceding month which was revised from an initial 0.2% drop.
Analysts had expected Canadian core retail sales to increase by only 0.7% in April.
After the report, USD/CAD traded at 1.3257, compared to 1.3298 prior to the release.