The Canadian economy grew in June, avoiding a contraction in the second quarter.

The Canadian economy in the second quarter appears to have achieved a modest growth, with performance expected to exceed the expectations of economists and the Bank of Canada, suggesting that predictions of serious damage from the trade war may have been exaggerated. Preliminary data released by Statistics Canada on Thursday showed that in June, the industry-based gross domestic product increased by 0.1%. This follows two consecutive months of declines of 0.1% in April and May. This means that the economy is expected to grow by 0.1% at an annualized rate in the second quarter. "Today's data confirms our view that the Canadian economy is no longer deteriorating," said Charles St-Arnaud, chief economist at Alberta Central, in an email. "Due to effective tariff rates being lower than initially feared, uncertainty has decreased, leading to improvement in both business and consumer confidence, resulting in increased spending."