Canada’s gross domestic product increased by 0.1% in October. This was because the growth in the service sector was barely enough to offset the contraction in commodity-producing industries.
Statistics Canada reported on Friday that GDP in October slowed from 0.2% growth in the previous month. And early November numbers suggest no growth at all.
The services sector grew for the sixth straight month, while the goods sector contracted for the fourth straight month, according to the data agency.
Oil and gas output fell 2% and manufacturing contracted 0.7%.
On the other side of the ledger, wholesale expanded by 1.3% and the public sector by 0.4%. The accommodation and food service sector expanded by 1%, marking its third straight month of growth.
The services sector got a boost from unexpected places, with performing arts, spectator sports and related industries growing 4.7% over the month.
The Blue Jays and NHL game gave the economy a little boost
This was primarily due to the Toronto Blue Jays playing five more games than usual that month. That’s his 3 games that were canceled during the regular season, plus 2 playoff games.
It wasn’t just baseball. “The delayed start of the National Hockey League preseason in September contributed to the larger-than-usual increase in attendance in October,” the data agency said.
The 0.1% increase in overall economic growth in October was in line with what economists had expected, but Bank of Montreal economist Robert Kavcic said the figure suggests that the economy could split into two at the same time. I said it shows that we are going in different directions.
“If you dig under the surface, you can see that it’s starting to crack a little bit,” he told CBC News in an interview. , the service sector of the economy is still quite strong.”
Kavcic said the economy’s still modest growth was reason enough for the Bank of Canada to raise interest rates at least once more, at which point a small, short-lived recession was the most likely possibility. We believe that the results will be very high.
“Timing can be a bit of an issue, but I think at some point next year the financial markets are telling us and the bond markets are telling us that the economy is probably going to stumble a little bit next year. .
