Home Canada: Busy week with Q4 GDP in focus – NBF
FXStreet News

Canada: Busy week with Q4 GDP in focus – NBF

According to analysts at National Bank Financial, it’s a busy data week for Canadian economy, with the most important being the release of Q4 GDP on Friday.

Key Quotes                                                                                              

“Monthly readings to date hint at a positive contribution from residential investment (judging from the increase in housing starts in the quarter) and business investment (based on healthy imports of machinery and equipment).”

“Consumption spending may also add to GDP but only to a limited extent considering the stagnation in retail sales volumes during the quarter. Trade, on the other hand, could weigh on the headline growth figure as real imports expanded at a faster pace than real exports in the three months to December.”

“All told, GDP may have expanded 1.2% in annualized terms in the last quarter of 2018. Looking at monthly data, the handoff to Q1 looks decent, with December GDP on pace to expand 0.1% courtesy of gains in the wholesale and retail sectors. The week will also see the release of the consumer price index for January.”

“A drop in gasoline prices, coupled with an expected reversal in the air transportation category following a strong increase the prior month, should translate into a 0.1% monthly drop for the headline index (not seasonally adjusted). This would allow the annual inflation rate to drop 7 ticks to 1.3%. The annual rate of CPI-common, meanwhile, may come in at 1.8%, one tick less than in December. We’ll also keep an eye on the release of Markit’s manufacturing PMI for February.”

FX Street

FX Street

FXStreet is the leading independent portal dedicated to the Foreign Exchange (Forex) market. It was launched in 2000 and the portal has always been proud of their unyielding commitment to provide objective and unbiased information, to enable their users to take better and more confident decisions.