Manufacturing sales down in September

A total of $950.6 million worth of new cars and trucks were sold in Alberta this past September, down from $1.1 billion in September 2014, according to Statistics Canada.

Analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast a 0.1 percent rise in overall sales. There was a shift out of government debt, where net sales in the month were C$4.76 billion, and into corporate bonds, which saw net purchases of C$5.65 billion.

“However, a pullback in motor vehicle manufacturing was to be expected given the very strong performance in recent months that resulted in part from the resumption of output at a major manufacturing facility”, he said, referring to the Chrysler minivan plant in Windsor, Ont., that reopened in May.

The agency says the decline was due to a drop in the motor vehicle assembly and the petroleum and coal product industries.

At 9:10 a.m. ET (1410 GMT), the Canadian dollar was trading at C$1.3349 to the greenback, or 74.91 USA cents, weaker than the Bank of Canada’s official close on Friday of C$1.3318, or 75.09 U.S. cents, having hit a new six-week low at C$1.3356.

Higher sales (up 13 per cent) in the machinery industry offset a few of the decrease, it said.

“Sales in the petroleum and coal product industry were down 7.1 per cent to $4.8 billion in September, the fourth consecutive decline”.

Manufacturing sales for August were revised down to a drop of 0.6% from a previously reported fall of 0.2%.

Two industry sectors saw positive growth in September: machinery and primary metals.