On Monday, the S&P 500 was up 0.2% while Toronto was closed.
U.S bank stocks rose.
Statistics Canada reported April GDP growth on Friday. It should always be remembered that this is an estimate of GDP growth and is subject to statistical error. Growth was pegged at 0.2% for April. This is not annualized but rather the estimated growth in April alone.
14 of 20 sectors were found to have grown in April versus March. This is also always seasonally adjusted so that, for example, they don’t report an increase every November just due to Christmas. This seasonal adjustment is also an estimate of necessity. I am pretty sure it would not attempt to adjust for any unusual weather in this particular April but rather adjusts for the fact that April in general tends to be a more active month than March in a typical year.
Overall, this GDP report along with recent reports indicates that Canada’s economy continues to grow at a modest rate.