Canada's Economic Growth Stagnates in July Amid Slow Third Quarter Start

Canada's economic growth stagnated in July, according to data released on Tuesday. The country's economy has been showing a slower start to the third quarter after a solid growth in the prior three months.

The data from Statistics Canada showed that both goods-producing industries and services-producing industries were largely unchanged in July. However, there were some notable declines within these sectors.

Among the goods-producing industries, the manufacturing sector decreased by 0.9% in July, posting its first decrease in four months. This was primarily led by a decline in activity at petroleum refineries which was down 6.2% in July.

The mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction also posted a decline of 0.5%, down for the second month in a row. However, utilities and constructions sectors grew by 1.7% and 1.3% respectively, offsetting most of the decline.

Among the services-producing industries, retail trade shrunk by 1% and wholesale was down 0.4% in July. However, professional, scientific and technical services rose 0.3% in July, its largest monthly growth rate since the last 20 months.