It might be the result of a brutally cold winter so far but Canadian consumer spending dipped in January, according to the latest spending tracker from RBC.
Using cardholder data, Canada's largest bank indicated that spending fell across discretionary goods, services and essentials in the month.
The bank downplayed the decline, noting that it came after a particularly strong December.
December had been an especially strong for goods tied to holiday shopping, and January largely retraced some of those earlier gains. The reversal points to a normalization following elevated year-end spending rather than a sudden deterioration in household demand.
Essentials spending also declined in January, extending softer tone already evident from late 2025. By contrast, discretionary services spending edged lower, but remained the most resilient of the three major groupings
The bank also cited severe winter weather noting that spending fell in Ontario on peak storm days. Another soft area was housing-related spending in light of the persistent slide in housing prices in much of the country.
RBC demonstrated the storm related dips:
