Retail sales in Canada fell 0.2% in November from October to C$66.61 billion ($49.36 billion), led by declines among food and beverage merchants, and general merchandise stores, Statistics Canada reported Friday. According to flash estimates, sales likely rose 0.8% in December, the agency reported.
In November, sales declined in four of the nine subsectors, representing 43.5% of retail trade. In volume terms, retail sales decreased by 0.2%.
Retail sales for October increased by 0.7% compared to the previous month (revised to +0.5%).
The estimate for November is 0.0%.
Retail sales for October were +0.7% versus expectations of +0.8%.
Excluding motor vehicles, it declined by -0.5% compared to expectations of -0.1%,
while the previous month without motor vehicles showed an increase of +0.6%.
Estimates for December are expected to show an increase of +0.8%.
