Canadian Economic Growth Appears To Be Slowing

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Here are the major recent economic headlines:

• According to Statistics Canada, real gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 3.3 percent in the second quarter. That reading was lower than analysts had expected, but was up from 3.1 percent growth in the first quarter. Meanwhile, an early look at July data signals that the economy may have contracted that month.
• Total U.S. industrial production rose 0.6 percent in July. Manufacturing output was up 0.7 percent while the index for mining increased 0.7 percent and the index for utilities fell 0.8 percent. At 104.8 percent of its 2017 average, total industrial production was 3.9 percent above July 2021. Read the full report here.
• Global manufacturing output fell back into contraction in August. The J.P. Morgan Global Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index fell to a 26-month low of 50.3 in August, down from 51.1 in July. Only ten out of the 30 nations registered increases in production, the majority of which, including China, Brazil, Spain, and Australia, only saw marginal growth. The United States, the euro area, Japan, and the United Kingdom were among the larger economies to see contractions. Click here to read the full report.
• Nonfarm U.S. labor productivity fell 4.1 percent in the second quarter of 2022 as output decreased 1.4 percent and hours worked rose 2.7 percent. Labor productivity was down 2.4 percent from the second quarter of 2021. That decline is the largest ever recorded.
• The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis announced personal consumption expenditures, a key gauge of inflation, fell 0.1 percent from June 2022 to July 2022, but was still up 6.3 percent from a year before. Incomes rose 0.2 in July while inflation-adjusted income rose 0.3 percent and wages and salaries rose 0.9 percent.
• According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the nation’s economy added 315,000 jobs in August, and the unemployment rate rose to 3.7 percent from 3.5 percent in July. Manufacturers added 22,000 jobs in July.
• U.S. job openings rose unexpectedly in July, underscoring persistent tightness in the labor market as employers compete for a limited supply of workers. The number of available positions edged up to 11.2 million from 11 million in June. There were about two jobs for every unemployed person in July, up from 1.9 in June. Vacancies also increased in Canada, rising 3.2 percent in June to nearly 1.038 million to reach a new high.
• During the week that ended August 27, 232,000 people filed for U.S. unemployment benefits for the first time, a drop of 5,000 from the prior week. The four-week moving average of first-time claims also fell. The number of individuals who continued to receive jobless benefits rose, however, to 1.438 million during the week that ended August 20 from 1.412 million the week before. The four-week moving average of continuing claims also rose.