December and fourth quarter GDP from Statistics Canada:

  • Prior +2.3% (quarterly GDP annualized) (revised to +2.4%)
  • December GDP +0.2% m/m vs +0.1% m/m expected
  • In November, GDP rose 0.3% m/m
  • GDP +0.5% y/y vs 0.0% expected
  • Prior y/y revised to +0.5% from +0.2%

Imports fell 8.9%, the most in six years, and that's one of the big reasons for the miss.

The idea is that the soft Canadian will stimulate exports but they fell 2.2% in the fourth decline in five quarters. Business investment fell 6.5%.

The Canadian dollar is unsurprisingly rallying on the numbers but below the headlines there isn't any good news here.