Statistics Canada says real gross domestic product shrank by 0.1 per cent in November. The decrease partly offset an increase of 0.3 per cent in October.
The report was in line with estimates that the contraction would be 0.1 per cent for the month, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon.
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“October now looks to have been an island in the storm for the Canadian economy, as November saw a return to weakness,” CIBC Capital Markets chief economist Avery Shenfeld wrote in a note to clients.
Canada’s GDP growth remained virtually flat in August and September, Shenfeld noted. With November, that marks “three of the last four months in which performance was lacklustre.”
In November, the overall move lower came despite gains in 13 of the 20 industrial sectors tracked. The wholesale trade sector fell 1.1 per cent in November as machinery, equipment and supplies wholesaling pulled back 2.1 per cent. The manufacturing sector also contracted 0.5 per cent for the month, the third decline in four months.
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Shenfeld predicted the latest stretch of ho-hum economic data would keep the Bank of Canada from further raising interest rates in the first six months of 2019.
— With files from Global News money reporter Erica Alini
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