Canadian retail sales up 0.6% in October, buoyed by vehicle purchases

Retail sales rose 0.6 per cent to $67.6 billion in October, led by increases in vehicle sales, said Statistics Canada on Friday.

Core retail sales, which exclude the often volatile categories like gasoline stations, fuel vendors and motor vehicle and parts dealers, rose a more modest 0.2 per cent.

The core measure was down from a 1.4 per cent gain in September, while Statistics Canada said its advance estimate for November shows retail sales were relatively unchanged.

The modest growth outside of automotive sales and the forward outlook point to a slowdown, said CIBC senior economist Andrew Grantham in a note.

“Combined with an advance estimate for no change in November, it appears that growth in retail sales volumes is taking a breather following the surge seen in Q3.”

In volume terms, retail sales were unchanged in October.

The automotive sector saw the largest rise in sales, including 2.5 per cent increases for sales at both new and used car dealers.

Sales at gasoline stations and fuel vendors were down 0.5 per cent in October, marking a sixth consecutive month of declines.

In the core measure, the agency said gains were driven by higher sales at furniture, home furnishings, electronics and appliances retailers, which saw a 2.5 per cent increase.

Food and beverage retailers saw the biggest drop in October, down 0.7 per cent.

Grantham said the estimate of no growth in November could have been affected by the federal government’s announced GST holiday, but it won’t be clear until December numbers are released.

And while October gains were slower than the previous month, the picture isn’t too bad.

“Even though the latest release wasn’t as strong as the prior one, consumer spending has still improved relative to the trend seen earlier in the year,” he said.