Canadian Retail Sales Decline a Record 10% in March

Statistics Canada (StatCan) is reporting that Canadian retail sales plunged 10% in March. The result of officials shuttering non-essential business to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. StatCan is calling this the largest drop in retail sales on record, which was led by a significant drop in car sales. Sales excluding autos declined only -0.4% in March, which was better than the expected 5.0% drop analysts had predicted. On a positive note, on a year-over-year basis, retail e-commerce jumped 40.4%. Preliminary estimates indicate that April retail sales will decline even further.