Canadian consumers remained resilient in December, even in the face of elevated inflation and rising interest rates, Bloomberg News reported. Receipts for retailers jumped 0.5% last month, according to an advance estimate released Friday by Statistics Canada. That follows a 0.1% drop in November, which was led by lower sales of food and beverages, as well as building material and garden supplies. The increase in December more than offsets the lower-than-expected losses in November and adds to a 1.3% gain in October, ending last year with relatively strong retail sales. The data show household spending may be holding up better than expected in the fourth quarter, and point to a delayed start to what's expected to be a consumption-led gearing down of economic growth. Economists see a technical recession in the first two quarters of this year. The statistics agency didn't provide details of the December number, which is based on responses from 33.5% of companies surveyed.
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