Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Canadian Monthly GDP Growth and US Q2 GDP Growth


The Canadian economy grew 0.2 per cent in May, led by retail and wholesale trade and other services industries which expanded by a robust 0.5 per cent. Growth was held back by a significant drop in oil sands output. Given today's data release, our quarterly GDP tracking model is registering second quarter growth of 2.3 per cent, however after accounting for the impact of June flooding in Alberta, growth is more likely to fall into a range of 1 to 1.5 per cent.

The US economy grew 1.7 per cent in the second quarter of 2013, exceeding expectations of sub-1 per cent growth. While second quarter growth surprised to the upside, first quarter growth was revised significantly lower from 1.8 per cent to 1.1 per cent. That marks the second quarter as the third in a row where real GDP has expanded by less than 2 per cent. We expect that trend to break in the second half of 2013 as the drag from cuts to government spending begins to fade, which could push growth in the US economy above 3 per cent. 

Copyright BCREA - reprinted with permission 

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