Canada Retail Sales Rise 0.6% in May on Autos

Canadian retail sales climbed in May for a third straight month, powered by demand for new and used cars.

Excluding the auto component, retail receipts fell slightly.

The value of retail sales in May rose 0.6% on a seasonally-adjusted basis to 48.91 billion Canadian dollars ($38.86 billion), Statistics Canada said Friday. That exceeded market expectations for a 0.3% gain, according to economists at Royal Bank of Canada.

In volume terms -- or when the effects of price changes are removed -- total retail sales rose by a faster 1.1% in May.

Write to Paul Vieira at paul.vieira@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 21, 2017 08:45 ET (12:45 GMT)