The growth of Canada’s economy hit 3.7 percent in the second quarter of 2019 as a surge in exports offset weaker domestic demand.
Trade largely fueled the increase in real gross domestic product (GDP) reported by Statistics Canada on August 30. Broad strength in exports included a 3.7 percent increase in goods and a 5.9 jump in energy.
But weakness appeared with a slowdown in the growth of household spending to 0.1 percent and a decline in non-residential business investment.
“The picture that emerges is hardly one of strength,” TD analyst Brian DePratto wrote.
DePratto noted that the trade increase largely came from a jump in May.
“This was a ‘less than meets the eye’ report,” he wrote.
A separate Statistics Canada report tracking economic activity by industries showed the transportation and warehousing sector declining by 0.2 percent in June.
Performance by mode was mixed. Trucking by grew 0.36 percent, but rail declined by 2.3 percent.