Canada January factory sales jump, boding well for Q1 growth

By Leah Schnurr OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian manufacturing sales rose at a surprisingly strong clip at the start of the year, raising expectations that the economy will see stronger growth in the first quarter than the Bank of Canada has forecast. Factory sales rose 2.3 percent in January, Statistics Canada said on Wednesday, topping analysts' forecasts for a gain of 0.5 percent and pushing sales up to a record C$53.13 billion ($39.8 billion). While some of January's increase was due to the depre