Canada: Manufacturing sales forecasted to decline by 0.7% in February – TD Economics

According to the research team at TD Economics, Canadian manufacturing sales are forecasted to decline by 0.7% in February, led by a pullback in the energy component.

Key Quotes

“Nominal petroleum sales will be heavily impacted by lower prices at the pump, while elevated motor vehicle inventories and moderating demand in the US will act as a headwind to factory sales for the industry. Elsewhere, we expect a fairly weak performance in manufacturing activity, consistent with February export data and a partial correction from the lofty gains over the past three months. While we note that volumes are expected to underperform the nominal print due to a modest rise in factory prices, this will have little bearing on quarterly implications after the robust handoff in December and healthy January print, though we do see momentum fading in Q2.”