🇨🇦CANADIAN GDP ON TRACK FOR A ROBUST Q1: RBC

• Canadian GDP grew 0.4% in February, followed by another “approximate” 0.9% increase in March. For the first time since last spring, growth can entirely be attributed to strength in service-producing industries. With the reopening of indoor shopping in some regions, retail sales re-versed a large chunk of declines over December and January and accounted for more than half of the growth in February.

• An early (modest) recovery in the hospitality sector will likely be short-lived in the near-term. But we still expect those hardest-hit service sectors to drive output growth once restrictions begin to be more sustainably eased.

• Overall, an approximate 0.9% increase in March would leave GDP up 6.7% (annualized) in Q1 – tracking slightly above our own 6.0% forecast.