Hot sectors in a tepid recovery
The energy, finance, technology and healthcare industries are expected to be the hottest areas for dealmaking in 2010. Full Article | Full Coverage
CORRECTED - UPDATE 1-Gas prices boost Canada June retail sales
(Corrects first paragraph to clarify that sales rose 1.4 percent excluding auto sales only, not excluding auto and gasoline sales)
(Adds detail)
OTTAWA, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Soaring energy prices helped push up Canadian retail sales in June by 0.5 percent from May and by an unexpectedly steep 1.4 percent if auto sales are excluded, Statistics Canada said on Wednesday.
Stripping out the price effects, sales actually fell 0.4 percent in volume terms in the month.
Analysts surveyed by Reuters had expected tepid growth of 0.4 percent for retail sales and 0.5 percent for sales excluding autos. Statscan revised the May increases for overall sales and ex-auto sales to 0.3 percent from 0.4 percent and to 0.6 percent from 0.4 percent, respectively.
Gasoline station receipts climbed 4.2 percent due to price hikes but sales of new and used vehicles were down, resulting in a 0.1 percent decline for the automotive sector as a whole.
Food inflation also took its toll on consumers in June as food and beverage stores rang in 1.3 percent more sales than in May. Clothing and accessory store sales jumped 2.5 percent. (Reporting by Louise Egan; Editing by Scott Anderson)
