OTTAWA - Retail sales in Canada posted a gain of 1.7 per cent in February following two consecutive monthly declines.
Statistics Canada says retail sales climbed to $42.2 billion as all 11 retail subsectors posted gains.
Economists had expected a gain of 0.5 per cent for the month, according to Thomson Reuters.
General merchandise stores helped lead the way as sales climbed 5.6 per cent for the month.
Sales at motor vehicle and parts dealers gained 0.9 per cent, while sporting goods, hobby, book and music stores increased 8.4 per cent. Food and beverage stores added 0.6 per cent.
Retail sales were up in seven provinces, led by British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec. Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia slipped lower.
Here are inflation rates for various Canadian cities. StatsCan cautions that figures may fluctuate widely because they are based on small statistical samples (previous month in brackets):
- St. John's, N.L., 0.4 (-0.2)
- Charlottetown-Summerside, -0.6 (-1.2)
- Halifax, 0.6 (-0.1)
- Saint John, N.B., 0.1 (-0.2)
- Quebec, 1.5 (1.0)
- Montreal, 1.8 (1.5)
- Ottawa, 1.2 (1.0)
- Toronto, 1.9 (1.8)
- Thunder Bay, Ont., 1.3 (0.9)
- Winnipeg, 1.4 (0.9)
- Regina, 1.3 (1.1)
- Saskatoon, 1.6 (1.5)
- Edmonton, 0.1 (0.9)
- Calgary, -0.1 (1.1)
- Vancouver, 1.0 (0.9)
- Victoria, 1.0 (0.8)
Also on HuffPost:
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
