Canada: Trade deficit narrowed with weak details – RBC

Rannella Billy-Ochieng’, economist at the Royal Bank of Canada, notes that Canadian trade deficit narrowed to $1B in August up from a revised $1.4B deficit in July.

Key Quotes

“The details of today’s report were arguably softer than the headline numbers implied. Non-energy export volumes increased about 1% month-over-month by our count, but driven largely from an increase in exports of aircraft and other transportation equipment which grew by 13.2%. That increase is likely not to be repeated in the coming months.”

“After accounting for price effects, energy exports were also down 2.2% in August. Despite the fact that imports volumes were up— much of which was driven from gold, a pullback in equipment imports does not bode well for near-term business investment growth.”

“The notoriously volatile nature of the data makes us hesitant to put too much emphasis on one month’s reading. But the details of today’s trade report were a bit disappointing.”