By Ketki Saxena
Investing.com -- Canadian real gross domestic product (GDP) was essentially unchanged in May following a 0.3% expansion in April, Statistics Canada reported this morning.
While services-producing industries (+0.4%) was offset by a decline in goods-producing industries (-1.0%), as 14 of 20 industrial sectors increased in May
Advance information indicates that real GDP increased 0.1% in June, which on a cumulative basis for the quarter, indicates that the Canadian economy grew 1.1% in the quarter of 2022.
The advance information for June, and second-quarter data, will be updated on August 31 with the official release.
For the moment, however, it appears that the Canadian economy has thus far been able to withstand the Bank of Canada’s aggressive policy tightening and avoid a contraction.
The preliminary estimates for Canadian second-quarter GDP come a day after advance estimates indicated that the U.S. economy contracted 0.9% in the second quarter, for the second straight quarter, indicating by an oft-cited rule that the U.S. has officially entered a recession.
Canadian second quarter GDP will thus be particularly watched by investors as concerns of a downturn grow south of the border: Canada has been unable to escape contagion, and followed its biggest trading partner in every recession, barring the relatively mild 2001 dot com bubble.