08:57 AM EDT, 03/21/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Canadian retail sales froze at the start of the year, as activity began to normalize following a surge in December that owed to the start of the GST holiday, said CIBC.

Friday's retail sales posted a 0.6% month-over-month decline in January, which was two ticks worse than the advance estimate, but that followed a lofty 2.6% month-over-month increase in December, noted the bank.

The January sales decline was limited to three of nine subsectors, mainly driven by autos, with ex. auto sales up by 0.2%, with higher gasoline sales boosting that figure, as core sales eased off by 0.2% month over month.

In volume terms, total sales declined by 1.1% month over month following a 2.6% increase in the prior month, and the advance indicator for February showed a 0.4% month-over-month nominal decrease.

The downbeat data Friday appears to mostly be a normalization in activity after spending was pulled forward into December with the start of the GST holiday and leaves retail sales still over 4% above year-ago levels, according to CIBC.