Canada experiences 1st economic shrink in six months

Canada's real gross domestic product edged down 0.1 percent in August compared with the previous month, the first monthly shrink since February, Statistics Canada said here on Wednesday. The contraction was led by goods production, which declined 0.5 percent in the month, mainly as a result of decreases in mining and oil and gas extraction, as well as in manufacturing. Excluding oil and gas extraction, mining fell 2.8 percent. Oil and gas extraction decreased 0.4 percent. And manufacturing output dropped 0.6 percent. Declines were also recorded in utilities and construction, the agency said. Overall, the data agency noted shrinking output in 10 out of 18 industrial sectors. Although wholesale trade, transportation services and the public sector have increased, they were offset by declines in the output of real estate agents and brokers, retail trade, and the finance and insurance sector. The output of real estate agents and brokers fell 6.6 percent, down for a fourth consecutive month, as activity in the home resale market declined. The service sector as a whole was unchanged in August, it said. The Canadian dollar dropped below parity against the U.S. dollar immediately following the announcement, before gaining some ground at noon. It closed at 0.9993 against U.S. dollar on Tuesday.