Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP) remained unchanged for the third consecutive month in October, according to the latest data released by Statistics Canada.

While some sectors edged upward and others fell, the economy as a whole neither grew nor shrank. In fact, according to Friday’s The Daily report, the 20 industrial sectors included in the report were split evenly between increases and decreases.

The biggest contractions were in real estate, wholesale trade and manufacturing.

Activity at the offices of real estate agents and brokers was down 6.8 per cent in October, representing the sector’s fourth consecutive decline and the largest monthly decrease since April 2022, as activity in most of Canada’s largest real estate markets continued to cool off.

Wholesale trade of machinery, equipment and building material and supplies shrank 0.7 per cent in October, decreasing for the second consecutive month.

The manufacturing sector — which includes durable and non-durable goods, machinery and transportation equipment manufacturing — contracted 0.6 per cent, marking the fourth drop in five months.

Most of October’s sector specific increases were in retail trade and extractive industries.

Retail experienced its highest growth rate since January when it grew 1.2 per cent. Most of that increase was in clothing and clothing accessory stores, which rose by 3.2 per cent, and general merchandise stores, where activity increased by 2.5 per cent.

Activity in mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction increased one per cent in October, following two months of decline.

Mining and quarrying activity was up for the third time in four months, expanding 2.4 per cent, and oil and gas extraction rose 0.4 per cent.

The only extractive industry that didn’t grow in October was oil sands operations, which shrunk 2.2 per cent “as turnarounds at some oil sands upgraders continued to impact the operations into the month,” StatCan reported.