On Thursday we received manufacturing data for December and it wasn’t great. Sales decreased for the third consecutive month in a row (-1.3%), with the most notable declines in the petroleum and coal products industry. December’s oil price weakness was largely to blame, and as a result, Alberta’s manufacturing levels took the brunt of it; Statistics Canada reported that sales in this province fell 4.0% in December – the second consecutive monthly decline. The Alberta government enforced mandatory oil production cuts starting 1 January, alleviating pressures on crude producers by helping to lift oil prices. But a ... (full story)