{"id":586226,"date":"2026-04-06T17:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T17:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/586226\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T17:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T17:04:08","slug":"canadas-services-economy-shrinks-for-fifth-straight-month-in-march","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/586226\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada\u2019s services economy shrinks for fifth straight month in March"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

People cross a busy intersection in Vancouver\u2019s shopping district.Isabella Falsetti\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s services economy contracted for a fifth straight month in March as uncertainty related to the war in the Middle East<\/a> contributed to a decline in new business and after higher fuel costs raised operating expenses, S&P Global\u2019s Canada services PMI data showed on Monday.<\/p>\n

The headline Business Activity Index rose to 47.2 last month from 46.5 in February. That marked the index\u2019s highest reading in five months but it remained below the 50 no-change mark – a reading below 50 shows deterioration in activity.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother challenging month for Canada\u2019s service sector was signaled during March, with activity and new business again falling, albeit at slower rates compared to recent months,\u201d Paul Smith, economics director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said in a statement. \u201cThe impact of the war in the Middle East has led to heightened uncertainty and delayed decision making amongst clients, although firms are confident that a swift resolution would lead to an uplift in activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The war has led to a surge in oil prices<\/a>, raising the outlook for inflation globally.<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s economy has also been badly hurt by U.S. sectoral tariffs and uncertain negotiations around the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, a North American trade pact, which is set for review by a July 1 deadline.<\/p>\n

The new business measure remained in contraction for a 16th straight month even as it edged up to 47.7 from 46.9 in February.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe present business environment is clearly challenging, with firms reporting a steep increase in their operating expenses over the month, driven mainly by increased fuel and transportation costs,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

The Input Prices Index rose to 62.3, which was the highest level since June and up from 57.1 in February.<\/p>\n

One bright spot was the future activity index, which rose to a six-month high of 61.9.<\/p>\n

The S&P Global Canada Composite PMI Output Index edged up to 47.6 in March from 47.1 in February, registering its fifth consecutive month below the 50 threshold. On Wednesday, data showed that business conditions in Canada\u2019s manufacturing sector stagnated in March. The S&P Global Canada Manufacturing PMI fell to 50.0 last month from 51.0 in February. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: People cross a busy intersection in Vancouver\u2019s shopping district.Isabella Falsetti\/The Globe and Mail…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":586227,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,45,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":{"0":"post-586226","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-business","15":"tag-ca","16":"tag-canada","17":"tag-canada-news","18":"tag-canada-sports","19":"tag-canada-sports-news","20":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","21":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","22":"tag-canadian-news","23":"tag-economy","24":"tag-education","25":"tag-environment","26":"tag-federal-government","27":"tag-foreign-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail","29":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","30":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","31":"tag-government","32":"tag-life-news","33":"tag-lifestyle","34":"tag-local-news","35":"tag-manitoba","36":"tag-national-news","37":"tag-new-brunswick","38":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","39":"tag-northwest-territories","40":"tag-nova-scotia","41":"tag-nunavut","42":"tag-ontario","43":"tag-pei","44":"tag-photos","45":"tag-political-news","46":"tag-political-opinion","47":"tag-politics","48":"tag-politics-news","49":"tag-quebec","50":"tag-sports-news","51":"tag-technology","52":"tag-travel","53":"tag-trudeau","54":"tag-us-news","55":"tag-world-news","56":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}