Canadian retail gross sales jumped 2.5% in December to $69.6 billion, marking the strongest month-to-month achieve since mid-2022, in response to Statistics Canada.
The broad-based improve, spanning all 9 subsectors, was led by meals and beverage retailers (+3.5%) and motorcar and components sellers (+1.9%). Core retail gross sales, which exclude gasoline stations and motorcar and components sellers, additionally climbed 2.5%, rebounding from a 1.0% decline in November.
A GST holiday-fuelled spending spree
Analysts extensively attribute December’s retail energy to the GST/HST vacation, which started on December 15, prompting many customers to postpone purchases till mid-month.
Desjardins famous that December’s retail efficiency lifted the three-month annualized charge of actual gross sales progress to 10.2%, with per capita spending rising in each nominal and actual phrases after early 2024 weak point.
However whereas December noticed a surge in spending, it seems to have been short-lived. January’s flash estimate factors to a 0.4% decline in retail gross sales, reinforcing the view that the tax vacation’s influence was short-term.
Wanting forward, broader financial uncertainty may weigh on client confidence, in response to Tony Stillo, Director of Canadian Economics at Oxford Economics.
“We’ll have to attend and see the extent to which heightened uncertainty from Trump’s threatened commerce battle with Canada causes households to curtail spending, particularly for big-ticket objects,” he wrote.
CIBC‘s Andrew Grantham additionally warned that family spending in Q1 may take successful amid rising commerce tensions.
“Latest tariff uncertainty could have resulted in households tightening the purse strings once more if there was concern relating to employment prospects,” he wrote. “We anticipate client spending to gradual within the first half of this yr, earlier than accelerating once more in H2 and 2026 if a worst-case tariff situation is averted.”
Implications for the Financial institution of Canada
December’s stronger-than-expected retail gross sales add to the case that the Financial institution of Canada will maintain charges regular in March, reinforcing market odds that had already positioned a reduce at simply 30%.
“It appears Santa had loads of items for Canadians in December, because it’s tough to seek out any regarding spots on this report,” wrote BMO economist Shelly Kaushik. “Even when the momentum fades into the brand new yr, these figures add to the argument for the Financial institution of Canada to pause at subsequent month’s assembly.”
It’s a view shared by others, together with Desjardins senior economist Maëlle Boulais-Préseault, who factors out that This autumn annualized actual GDP progress is monitoring at 1.9%, barely above the BoC’s January forecast of 1.8%.
Nevertheless, Boulais-Préseault expects that prime housing prices, a wave of upcoming mortgage renewals, and the opportunity of a commerce battle with the U.S. may drag down client confidence and spending later in 2025.
“As such, whereas we anticipate the Financial institution to take a pause in its rate-cutting cycle in March, it’s probably only a temporary pitstop because the central financial institution is more likely to return to charge cuts thereafter,” she wrote.
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Final modified: February 21, 2025