Canadian Retail Sales rebounded in January according to the monthly report released by Statistics Canada today. Retails sales increased by 1.9 percent to C$33.7 billion in January after falling by 5.2 percent in December. December’s decrease marked the largest monthly decrease 
for retail sales in over 15 years. Today’s sales data almost doubled the market forecasts that were expecting sales to increase by 1.0 percent for the month.
Core retail sales, excluding automobile sales, rose by 1.3 percent in January following a revised decline of 3.1 percent in December. The rise in core sales also surpassed economic forecasts expecting a 0.4 percent increase in January.
Contributing to the gain in the retail sales numbers was an increase in the automotive industry as sales rose by 3.8 percent in January. Sales at gasoline stations also increased in January by 2.6 percent. Sales in pharmacies & personal care stores and food & beverages stores increased for the month with gains of 2.1 percent and 2.0 percent, respectively.
Negative contributors to the retail sales data were sales at furniture, home furnishings & electronic stores which fell by 0.7 percent and sales at building & home supplies stores which decreased by 0.7 percent.
Canadian Loonie mixed in Currency Trading.
The Canadian loonie dollar has been mixed today in the currency markets versus most of the major currencies. The Canadian currency has increased versus the euro, British pound and Japanese yen while falling so far today against the U.S. dollar, Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar.
The U.S. dollar has advanced slightly so far today against the Canadian loonie as the USD/CAD pair trades at the 1.2423 in the afternoon of the US session at 2:01pm EST. The USD/CAD opened the day trading at 1.2405 at 00:00GMT according to currency data by Oanda.
The euro has lost ground today against the loonie as the EUR/CAD trades at the 1.6862 level after opening the day at 1.6943.
The loonie has advanced versus the Japanese yen as the CAD/JPY trades at the rate of 77.09 yen per loonie level after opening the day at 76.22.
The British pound has declined versus the loonie as the GBP/CAD trades at the 1.7955 level after opening the day at 1.7976.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars have gained ground today versus the Canadian currency as the AUD/CAD trades at 0.8538 after opening at 0.8526 while the NZD/CAD trades at 0.6953 after opening the day at 0.6910.
USD/CAD Chart – The US Dollar gaining versus the Canadian Dollar today in Currency Trading following two days of sharp USD weakness(30min. Chart).
