Canadian wholesale sales rise for second straight month in November

Canadian wholesale sales rose for the second straight month in November. Sales were up 0.7 percent to CAD 63.6 billion. In the terms of volumes, wholesale sales rose 0.5 percent. The food, beverage and tobacco subsector drove the overall gains.

The subsector rose 1.9 percent to CAD 12.2 billion. The motor vehicle and parts subsector was up 0.7 percent to CAD 12 billion, its fourth rise in five months. The growth in this sector was linked to increased sales in the new motor vehicles parts and accessories industry, up 2.4 percent to CAD 2.3 billion. Sales in the building material and supplies subsector were up 0.6 percent, the third straight rise.

Region wise, Ontario recorded the largest rise. Ontario saw a rise of 1.7 percent. Meanwhile, sales dropped in Quebec and British Columbia. Manitoba and Saskatchewan also recorded lower sales in November.

Meanwhile, wholesale inventories drop for the first time in eight months. Inventories fell 1.2 percent to CAD 81.1 billion in November. Three of the seven subsectors were down, representing 60 percent of total wholesale inventories.

The inventory-to-sale ratio dropped 1.30 in October to 1.28 in November. This ratio is a measure of the time in months needed to exhaust inventories if sales were to remain at their current level.

At 18:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of Canadian Dollar was bearish -75.4779, while the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was slightly bearish at -58.2063. For more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex

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