Canadian manufacturing sales rose 1.5% but were flat in volume. Does a price-driven gain move the Canadian dollar?

Statistics Canada's full August report showed manufacturing sales up 1.5% to $79.9 billion. In constant dollars, sales were unchanged, because the industrial product price index rose 1.3%. Primary metal sales hit a record $7.6 billion, up 14.0%, while transportation equipment fell 2.6% (manufacturing report).

A rise in dollar sales that comes from prices, not volume, tells you less about activity than the headline suggests. It can still matter for the Canadian dollar, because export prices feed into the terms of trade.

We would like to hear your approach:

• Do you look at constant-dollar sales or the headline when you judge Canadian manufacturing?
• How much does a record in one sector, such as primary metals, change your view of CAD?
• Which Canadian data do you check first before a Bank of Canada decision?
• Do you trade CAD on commodity prices or on domestic data, and how do you decide?

Oil prices and the Canadian dollar covers the commodity link.

The 1.5% rise in dollar sales is mostly prices: constant-dollar sales were flat, and the industrial product price index rose 1.3%. Primary metals was the strongest of 21 subsectors, and 12 of the 21 rose. Do you look at constant-dollar sales when you trade the Canadian dollar, or only the headline?

Please share your own approach and reasoning, not calls for others to copy. Posts that promise a direction or sell signals will be removed.