The
data, released by Statistics Canada on Friday, showed that Canadian
retail sales fell 0.6 percent m-o-m to CAD 56.64 billion in September,
following an unrevised 2.1 percent m-o-m climb in August.
Economists
had forecast a decline of 1.7 percent m-o-m for September.
According
to the report, 7 of 11 subsectors posted declines in September, accounting for 63.5
percent of total retail sales, led by clothing and clothing accessories stores
(-5.9 percent m-o-m), miscellaneous stores (-2.8 percent m-o-m) as well as motor
vehicle and parts dealers (-1.6 percent m-o-m). Meanwhile, the biggest gains
occurred in sales at furniture and home furnishings stores (+1.3 percent m-o-m)
and food and beverage stores (+1.3 percent m-o-m).
Core
retail sales, which exclude gasoline stations and motor vehicle and parts
dealers, went down 0.3 percent m-o-m in September.
In y-o-y terms, the Canadian retail sales rose 4.8 percent in September, following
an unrevised 8.4 percent surge in the previous month.
For
the third quarter, retail sales registered a 2.7 percent y-o-y gain, which
marked the largest advance since the third quarter of 2020.