Canadian economic output grows above expectations in April

Canadian economic output rose slightly above market expectations in April. Sequentially, the GDP grew 0.3 percent in the month. The healthy performance follows a gain of 0.5 percent in March, marking the most solid two month gain since mid-2017. Out of 20 major industry groups only 11 saw a rise in output.

The goods-producing remained strong, rising 0.4 percent as mining, quarrying and oil and gas activity rose 4.5 percent on the back of reduced production restrictions in the energy sector. Construction activity also picked up, rising 0.2 percent, while the other major categories recorded fall.

The service sector recorded a gain of 0.2 percent, led by wholesale trade, which rose 1.4 percent sequentially. Other sub-sectors’ performance came in mixed, although real estate activity saw a second straight month of rise due to increased resale activity.

Without the sharp rise of activity in the energy sector, driven by the easing of production restrictions, today’s report would have been a much more modest report, noted TD Economics in a research report. Given the healthy headline from April and early signs from May and June so far encouraging, the Canadian economy appears to be shaking off its late-2018 blues.

“We now track second quarter growth at 2.5 percent annualized, nearly double the Bank of Canada's forecast in its April Monetary Policy Report (MPR)”, added TD Economics.
 

At 14:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of Canadian Dollar was neutral at -48.3946 while the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was slightly bearish at -50.1128 more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex