Canada: After increasing 0.4% in July, retail sales declined 0.3% in August to $48.9 bln

"After increasing 0.4% in July, retail sales declined 0.3% in August to $48.9 billion," the Statistics Canada reported on Friday. 

Key highlights:

• Sales were down in 8 of 11 subsectors, representing 57% of retail trade.
• Lower sales at food and beverage stores more than offset higher sales at gasoline stations and motor vehicle and parts dealers.
• Excluding the latter two subsectors, retail sales were down 1.3%.
• In volume terms, retail sales decreased 0.7%.