Source: Statistics Canada
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Weaker sales of automotive products and machinery and electronic equipment pushed wholesale sales substantially lower in August, bringing to an end a string of three straight monthly increases.

Wholesale sales fell&nbsp ; 2.0% to an estimated&nbsp ; $43.2&nbsp ; billion in August. The decline completely offset the gains of&nbsp ; 1.8% in July and&nbsp ; 0.3% in June.

Around half of the decline in August was due to weaker sales of automotive products (-5.3%), more than offsetting last month’s gain (+3.5%). The machinery and electronic equipment sector also had a slow month as sales fell&nbsp ; 4.2%, but this followed three months of strong gains. The other notable decline came in the building materials sector (-2.2%), …