Canada: Economy grew at annualized rate of 1.3% in Q3 vs. 1.2% expected

The Canadian economy expanded 1.3% on a yearly basis in the third quarter supported by higher household spending and business investment, the data published by Statistics Canada showed on Friday. This reading came in better than the market expectation of 1.2%.

The CAD gathered strength on the data and the USD/CAD pair pulled away from daily highs. As of writing, the pair was still up 0.1% on the day at 1.3290.

"Real gross domestic product (GDP) grew 0.3%, following a 0.9% increase in the second quarter. Third quarter growth was led by higher business investment and increased household spending, boosting final domestic demand by 0.8%," Statistics Canada's pres release read. "Business investment rose 2.6% in the third quarter, the fastest pace since the fourth quarter of 2017. Growth in household spending accelerated to 0.4%, after rising 0.1% in the second quarter."