Canada’s real GDP likely to have grown 0.1 pct in August – TD Economics

Canada’s real GDP growth is expected to have stayed flat in the month of August. According to a TD Economics research report, the industry-level GDP is expected to have grown 0.1 percent sequentially, driven by a rebound in the manufacturing industry. Retooling shutdowns at motor vehicle assembly plants single-handedly subtracted almost 0.1 percent from July’s GDP growth and a partial rebound will give a tailwind to growth in August.

Excluding the manufacturing industry, growth conditions are pretty mixed. Energy output is likely to have gained moderately; however, utilities are expected to have weighed on growth because of subdued demand caused by unseasonably cool weather. The services sector is expected to have been dragged down by a pullback in retail sales though widening job growth implies that activity continues to rise.

“Our forecast for a 0.1 percent increase is consistent with Q3 growth in the low-to-mid 2 percent range, which presents upside risks to the Bank of Canada’s 1.8 percent projection from the October MPR”, added TD Economics.

At 19:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of Canadian Dollar was highly bearish at -103.248, while the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was neutral at -32.9767. For more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex

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