Wholesale sales disappoint in September

Statistics Canada says wholesale sales fell 0.5% to $63.2 billion in September, led lower by the machinery, equipment and supplies, and the personal and household goods subsectors.

Economists had expected an increase of 0.3% for the month, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon.

In volume terms, Statistics Canada says wholesale sales fell 0.7%.

In emailed commentary, Andrew Grantham, senior economist at CIBC Capital Markets, said today’s disappointing data will drag on GDP, though he had expected the lower wholesale numbers and his GDP forecast hasn’t changed.

“Even with this disappointment, we are still tracking a flat GDP print for September, and somewhere close to 2% annualized for the quarter,” he said.

Wholesale sales were down in five of the seven subsectors tracked.

The machinery, equipment and supplies subsector fell 2% to $13 billion in September, while the personal and household goods subsector dropped 1.6% to $9 billion.

The building material and supplies subsector increased 1.5% to $9.5 billion.

Staff, with files from The Canadian Press

The Canadian Press is a national news agency headquartered in Toronto and founded in 1917.