Canada’s gross domestic product shrank unexpectedly in October as factories suffered their worst month in almost three years, adding to signs that the country’s outlook is worsening.
Output fell 0.3%, Statistics Canada said Friday in Ottawa. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected a flat reading, but widespread declines in goods-producing industries contributed to the largest monthly drop since May.
Manufacturing output was particularly disappointing, falling 2% in the biggest monthly decline since December 2013 and the second-worst since the recession. The numbers are “pretty bad,” Benjamin Reitzes, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, said by phone from Toronto. “Underlying growth is still sluggish.”
