Canada’s Economy Expanded for Fourth Straight Month on Factory Output
Posted in Beavers by: adminCanadas gross domestic product
expanded for a fourth straight month in January, led by a surge
in manufacturing.
Output rose 0.5 percent during the month, Statistics Canada
said today in Ottawa, matching the median forecast of 22
economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Gross domestic product
expanded 3.3 percent in the 12 months through January, matching
the year-over-year increase in December.
The results will certainly cause Bank of Canada to at
least revise up their growth outlook, said David Tulk, chief
Canada macro strategist for TD Securities, by telephone.
Youre getting stronger net export growth and perhaps a bit
softer domestic demand.
The Bank of Canada forecast in January that output expanded
at a 2.5 percent annualized pace between January and March, and
that growth will accelerate to 3 percent in the second half of
this year. Governor Mark Carney kept his key interest rate at 1
percent on March 1 and the bank said in a statement that policy
makers will carefully consider future increases.
The central bank predicts that exports and investment will
lead the recovery this year and take over from government and
consumer spending as the drivers of growth.
Stronger Manufacturing
The areas of the economy targeting domestic demand –
consumer spending and business investment — are a little bit
softer, whereas manufacturing, thats primarily driven by events
in the U.S., is a lot stronger, Tulk said about todays
report.
Canadas dollar was little changed at 97.12 cents per U.S.
dollar at 9:53 a.m. in Toronto, compared with 97.10 cents
yesterday. It earlier touched 96.83 cents.
Todays report showed that manufacturing expanded 2.8
percent in January, the largest jump since September 2003. The
gain followed a 0.8 percent increase in December. Fabricated
metal product makers and motor vehicles and parts factories had
the largest increases, Statistics Canada said.
Bombardier Inc. will have at least 300 orders for its new
CSeries commercial airliner by the time the jet goes into
service in 2013, up from 90 now, Gary Scott, the head of
Bombardiers commercial aerospace division, said March 14 at a
conference in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The economy is central in the campaign for the election
that Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper called for May 2
after his government was toppled by opposition parties. Harper
has said a fragile recovery is at risk because opposition
parties rejected the March 22 budget, which ended a two-year
stimulus plan while offering C$7.6 billion in new measures over
five years.
G-7s Fastest
Canadas economy grew at a 3.3 percent annualized pace in
the period from October to December, the fastest pace among
Group of Seven nations, Statistics Canada reported Feb. 28, due
in part to the biggest jump in exports since 2004. The expansion
had slowed to a pace of 1.8 percent in the third quarter from
5.5 percent in the first quarter of 2010.
Wholesaling rose for a fourth straight month in January, by
0.7 percent, while construction advanced 0.4 percent. Output in
the finance, insurance and real estate industry rose 0.5
percent.
Mining and oil and gas extraction declined 0.5 percent, the
first drop since September.
In a separate report, Statistics Canada said today non-farm
payrolls fell 5,700 in January from December to 14.84 million
people. Total hours worked grew 2.9 percent in the month, from a
year ago. Average weekly earnings grew 4.2 percent on the year
in January, the report said.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Doug Alexander in Ottawa at
dalexander3@bloomberg.net
Greg Quinn in Ottawa at
gquinn1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Christopher Wellisz at
cwellisz@bloomberg.net;
David Scanlan at dscanlan@bloomberg.net.
Article source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-31/canada-s-economy-expanded-for-fourth-straight-month-on-factory-output.html