Canadian Economy Expands, Adds 54,000 Jobs

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Meanwhile, here are the major economic headlines from the last week:

• The Canadian economy grew at an annualized rate of 2.6 percent in the third quarter of 2025. The robust growth largely was driven by Canada’s strengthening trade balance — imports fell and exports increased — and by higher capital spending by governments. Business investment was flat, however, Statistics Canada said. In other positive news: the Canadian economy added 54,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate fell 0.4 percentage points to 6.5 percent. Read the full report at this link.
• U.S. Industrial production increased 0.1 percent from August 2025 to September 2025. For the third quarter as a whole, industrial product rose at an annualized rate of 1.1 percent. In September, the indexes for manufacturing and for mining were unchanged relative to August while utilities output of utilities jumped 1.1 percent. At 101.4 percent of its 2017 average, total industrial production in September was 1.6 percent above its level from September 2024.
• New orders for S. manufactured goods rose 0.2 percent in September to $612.6 billion while shipments were virtually unchanged at $606.7 billion. Unfilled orders increased 0.7 percent and the unfilled orders-to-shipments ratio was 6.98, up from 6.93 in August. Inventories fell 0.1 percent and the inventories-to-shipments ratio was 1.56, unchanged from August.
• U.S. business inventories were unchanged from July 2025 to August 2025. Wholesale and manufacturing inventories were both flat for the month, with retail inventories falling 0.1 percent. Overall, inventories were up 1.1 percent from August 2024 to August 2025. Total business sales increased 0.2 percent, with manufacturing sales falling 0.1 percent, wholesale sales increasing 0.1 percent, and retail sales rising 0.5 percent. The inventories to sales ratio was unchanged at 1.37.
• According to the Institute for Supply Management’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI), economic activity in the U.S. manufacturing sector contracted in November for the ninth consecutive month. Specifically, the PMI registered 48.2 percent, down from 48.7 percent in October. The reading for new orders contracted for a third straight month, but one bright spot was the production index, which rose 3.2 percentage points. Read the full report at this link.
• Canada’s manufacturing sector also weakened recently due to significant pullbacks in output and new orders. Specifically, the S&P Global Canada manufacturing PMI fell to 48.4 in November, marking a tenth successive month of contraction. Read more from Morningstar.
• Regional manufacturing readings from late November were mixed. The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s manufacturing index for the Midwest for November rose to +8 from +6 in October due to improvements in both durable and nondurable manufacturing activity. Growth in the durable manufacturing sector was driven by machinery and furniture manufacturing. The employment and shipment indexes grew moderately, but the order backlog and material inventories indexes decreased slightly. Read the full report at this link. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas said it manufacturing index for Texas fell to -10.4 from -5.0 in October. Despite that drop, the production index, a key measure of state manufacturing conditions, rose 15 points to +20.5, indicating a notable pickup in output growth, while the new orders index increased to +4.8 from -1.7 and the shipments index increased nine points to 15.1. Read that full report at this link.
• In other economic news: the U.S. producer price index increased 0.3 percent from August 2025 to September 2025 and 2.7 percent from September 2024 to September 2025; U.S. import prices and U.S. export prices were unchanged in September 2025 from the month before; and the core personal consumption expenditures price index in the United States, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, rose 2.8 percent year over year. Read that report at this link.