Canada’s retail sales jumped 2.5% mom to CAD 69.6B in December, far surpassing market expectations of 1.6% mom. Sales increased across all nine subsectors, with the strongest contributions from food and beverage retailers and motor vehicle and parts dealers.
In volume terms, retail sales also rose 2.5% mom, indicating that the increase was not solely due to price effects.
For Q4, retail sales climbed 2.4% qoq, marking the second consecutive quarterly gain. Adjusted for inflation, sales volumes rose 1.8% qoq.
However, momentum may have slowed at the start of 2025. Advance estimate for January suggests retail sales declined by -0.4% mom.
