By the numbers

Manufacturing sales shaky ... On the heels of a 0.6-per-cent drop in August, manufacturing sales slid an additional 1.5 per cent to $51.1 billion in September. The slide was primarily attributed to weakened sales in the motor vehicle assembly and the petroleum and coal product industries. Ontario swallowed a sales loss of 2.5 per cent to $24.4 billion, leading among the four provinces recording declines.