The Canadian economy was up 0.3 percent in April, in line with a gain of 0.3 percent expected in the Econoday survey and the Statistics Canada estimate. March was unrevised from the flat showing initially reported. Year over year, the economy expanded by 1.1 percent in April.

The advance estimate for May points to a gain of 0.1 percent. The weaker projection for May suggests the economy came off the boil after April's relatively strong start to the second quarter.

Services were up 0.3 percent while goods-producing industries were also up 0.3 percent in April from March. For March versus February, goods-producing industries declined by 0.1 percent in March and services were flat.

In April, 15 of 20 sectors increased on the month. Wholesale trade led the way with a gain of 2.0 percent after falling 1.2 percent in March. Mining, quarrying and gas extraction had a big month too, up 1.8 percent in April after declining 0.3 percent in March.

Manufacturing bounced back by 0.4 percent in April after falling 0.8 percent in March. Retail trade was up 0.5 percent in April after dipping 0.3 percent in March. The public sector saw a gain of 0.2 percent in April after the same 0.2 percent rise in March.

On the downside, construction was a big downer with a decline of 0.4 percent in April after rising 0.7 percent in March, which was its biggest rise since October 2022. Residential building was the culprit, down 2.3 percent on the month, its biggest decline since May 2023.

Utilities declined 0.2 percent in April after rising 0.5 percent in March.

After March's as-expected no change, GDP in April is expected to rise 0.3 percent.

Gross domestic product (GDP) is the broadest measure of aggregate economic activity and encompasses every sector of the economy. In contrast to most industrialised countries a monthly estimate is provided derived from the value added by labour and capital in transforming inputs purchased from other producers into that industry's output. Data for the reference month are usually released close to the end of the second month after the reference period.

Instead of producing an advanced quarterly GDP figure and revising it the following two months, Statistics Canada releases monthly estimates of real GDP at Basic Prices. This release breaks down real output by seven goods-producing industries and twelve service-producing industries, and includes special aggregations such as business sector, non-business sector, and industrial production.

The sources of data used for monthly and quarterly estimates often differ and leads to very different estimates for certain items, such as price deflators. As a result, the monthly figures are not perfectly correlated with the quarterly numbers. However, the monthly data do give some idea of where the quarter is headed and especially in an uncertain environment, they are closely watched. While industrial production is closely watched in the U.S., it is not in Canada especially since the economy has become increasingly dominated by services. However, the goods sector is more vulnerable to wide swings in output compared to services, and exports remain dominated by industrial output.