Canada's retail trade flat in July

OTTAWA, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Retail sales in Canada for the month of July were mostly flat at $36 billion, the Statistics Canada agency reported from Ottawa Monday.

The largest area of decline was in the automotive sector, where new car sales were down by 0.6 percent to $6 billion in July and down 4.6 percent from July 2007. Used and recreational motor vehicle and parts dealers also posted lower sales of $1.5 billion, down 2.2 percent for the 12-month period, StatsCan said.

Sales at gasoline stations in July were virtually unchanged from June at $4.8 billion, although that's a 24.3-percent increase in the 12-month period.

"Increases of more than 1 percent were posted in the furniture, home furnishings and electronics stores sector and the building and outdoor home supplies stores sector," the report said.

Regionally, all of the provinces west of Ontario except for Saskatchewan saw retail sales decrease in July, while in the east, New Brunswick's 3-percent gain was its fourth consecutive monthly increase, the report said.