Canadian consumers haven’t tightened their belts this much in nearly a year, and there are no signs of spending growth since the start of 2024. Receipts for retailers were unchanged in March, according to an advance estimate from Statistics Canada released Wednesday. That followed a 0.1% drop in February, missing expectations for a 0.1% gain in a Bloomberg survey. Taken together with the 0.3% plunge in January sales, the figures point to a flat reading in the first three months of the year, the weakest pace since the second quarter of 2023. February’s decline was led by lower sales at gas stations, while car sales ... (full story)