The first look at Canada March and Q1 GDP
- Prior was +1.7% q/q annualized
- Year-over-year GDP +2.9% vs +2.9% expected
March GDP
- +0.3% m/m vs +0.2% expected
- April GDP was +0.4% m/m
Reuters reports the decline was
weighed by a deceleration in household spending, lower exports of non-energy products, and a decline in household investment. March's GDP growth was 0.3% thanks to gains in the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction sector. An atypical decline in stock market trading activity led to the largest contraction in the finance and insurance sector in nine years, and helped moderate monthly growth.
I'm having a hard time reconciling the strong m/m number with the weak Q1. There was no revision to February, so I'll assume January was cut more deeply.
USD/CAD jumped on the headlines and hit 1.2895 before falling back to 1.2868. The European low was 1.2820.
