• Prior was -0.4% (revised to -0.3%)
• Wholesale trade -1.6% vs -1.5% expected
• Prior trade +0.3% (revised to +0.4%)

Statistics Canada publishes two monthly reports that track activity in the goods-producing side of the economy: the Monthly Survey of Manufacturing and the Monthly Wholesale Trade Survey. Both arrive first as advance “flash” estimates, roughly three weeks after the reference month ends. Full releases follow a few weeks later with detailed industry and provincial breakdowns.

Manufacturing sales measure the value of goods shipped by Canadian factories. Key industries include petroleum and coal products, food, transportation equipment, primary metals and chemicals. Because the headline is reported in current dollars, swings in commodity prices can distort the picture, particularly through refined petroleum and metals. Markets and economists pay close attention to the constant-dollar, or volume, figure, which strips out price effects and offers a cleaner read on real output. The report also includes inventories, new orders and unfilled orders, giving a sense of where production is headed.

Wholesale trade measures sales by businesses that buy goods and resell them to retailers, other businesses and institutions. It covers sectors such as food and beverages, motor vehicles and parts, machinery and equipment, building materials and personal and household goods. Like manufacturing, it’s watched in both nominal and volume terms, alongside inventories and the inventory-to-sales ratio.

Neither report usually moves the Canadian dollar on its own, but both feed directly into monthly GDP estimates, helping economists refine growth forecasts and the Bank of Canada’s outlook. With the United States the dominant destination for Canadian goods, the data have taken on added importance as a real-time gauge of how trade policy and tariffs are hitting factories and distributors.