The FINANCIAL — Canadian output expanded in the third quarter on the strength of exports and consumer spending, as the economy attempts to shake off the negative fallout from a commodity-price slump that led activity to shrink in the first half of 2015, according to Nasdaq.
The rebound fell just short of the Bank of Canada’s forecast, and the third quarter ended with a thud as output in September declined at its steepest pace since the global financial crisis.
Gross domestic product, or the broadest indicator of goods and services produced by an economy, advanced 2.3% on an annualized basis in the third quarter, to 1.77 trillion Canadian dollars ($1.33 trillion), Statistics Canada said on December 1. This matched market expectations, according to economists at Royal Bank of Canada. The Bank of Canada forecast a 2.5% gain, on the belief the economy would pick up momentum due to strength in non-commodity exports.
The data agency added output in September fell 0.5% on a month-over-month basis, or the biggest since March, 2009, on weakness in the resource sector. Market expectations were for a flat reading in the month.
Results for the first and second quarters were revised, and suggested the economy didn’t shrink as much as first reported. Second-quarter GDP in Canada declined 0.3% annualized, versus the earlier estimate of a 0.5% drop, while the economy in the January-to-March period fell 0.7% annualized versus a 0.8% contraction.
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