Canada December retail sales fall amid pullback in electronics

[February 22, 2018]  OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian retail sales unexpectedly declined in December after climbing for the past three months as a pullback at electronics and appliance stores offset higher purchases of new cars, data from Statistics Canada showed on Thursday.

A woman looks at her phone while walking past a sales sign on display outside a retail store in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, July 21, 2017. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

The 0.8 percent drop surprised economists, who had forecast an increase of 0.2 percent, and was the biggest decline since March 2016. Stripping out the effects of price changes, volumes were down 0.8 percent in December.

Sales at electronics and appliance stores tumbled 9.1 percent, giving back some of November's surge on the back of Black Friday promotions. Purchases at general merchandise stores also weighed on overall sales with a drop of 5.3 percent.

The declines were tempered by a 2.1 percent increase in sales at motor vehicle and parts dealers as Canadians bought more new cars. Excluding autos, retail sales fell 1.8 percent.

Despite December's decline, Canadian consumers put in a strong showing in 2017, with retail sales up 6.7 percent for the year, the highest annual growth rate since 1997, the statistics agency said.

Sales last year were lifted by higher prices, as well as robust vehicle sales, which cracked the 2 million mark for the first time.

(Reporting by Leah Schnurr; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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