The Ivey Business School Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), measuring Canada’s economic activity, rose to 60.6 in August from an unrevised 54.2 in July. That was the highest reading since October 2018.

Economists had expected the gauge to hit 53.0.

A figure above 50 shows an increase while below 50 shows a decrease.

Within sub-indexes, the inventories indicator climbed to 54.8 in August from 46.9 in the prior month and the supplier deliveries gauge rose to 49.9 from 46.0, while the employment measure fell to 52.7 in this month from 56.6 in July and the prices index dropped to 51.3 from 59.2.