The Ivey Business School Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), measuring Canada’s economic activity, rose to 55.9 in April from an unrevised 54.3 in March. That was the highest reading since December 2018.

Economists had expected the gauge to hit 53.0.

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

Within sub-indexes, the prices index edged up to 58.9 last month from 58.7 in March and the supplier deliveries gauge surged to 48.7 from 46.2. At the same time, the employment measure decreased to 53.7 in April from 54.5 in the prior month and the inventories indicator dropped to 46.4 from 47.8.