Canada December wholesale sales and inventories
- Prior was +0.7%
- First decline after seven months of gains
- Inventories -0.1% vs -0.6% prior
- Inventories -1.7% y/y
- Sales in five of the seven subsectors were higher than the pre-COVID-19 benchmark, led by building material and supplies (+12.2%), and machinery, equipment and supplies (+6.6%)
- Motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts and accessories sales fell for the second consecutive month, down 4.3%
Inventory building looks like it will be a positive contributor to Canadian GDP in the first half of the year with inventories at the lowest levels since 2019. Some of that is surely shortages so sorting out the timing isn't straightforward.
USD/CAD has bounced back to 1.2745 today after a failed break of 1.2650 yesterday.