The increasingly bipolar Canadian economy appears to be having a good day, according to two positive reports released this morning.

Manufacturing shipments beat analyst expectations in May with a 2.1% jump. A 5.5% rise in autos led the way, but even ex-autos, shipments rose 1.4%.

BMO Nesbitt Burns says, “Some of the gain was due to higher lumber and refined petroleum prices, but the advance still stands in stark contrast to the nine consecutive monthly declines seen in U.S. industrial production.”

Adding to the good news, April shipments were also revised higher to a small gain of 0.1% from an earlier announced 0.6% slide.

BMO also notes that, “orders were also on the high side of expectations, rising 1.8% in May (up 1.2% ex-autos). The backlog of unfilled orders continues to climb, rising 1% in May. Inventories did rise 0.8% in the month, but the inventory/shipments ratio fell to a four-month low of 1.47, and well below the February peak of 1.52. Manufacturing will be hard-pressed to hold onto these gains, especially with the carnage in tech-land and still-weak U.S. activity, but the results are encouraging.”

“Flying in the face of a wave of dismal results from U.S. manufacturing in recent months, Canada received a double dose of better-than-expected economic news today,” says BMO, citing the revised survey of investment intentions. “Capital spending is now expected to rise 6.3% this year, up from the initial estimate of 1.7%. This surprisingly strong result is largely due to a spike in the energy sector. Alberta will lead with a 14.2% rise.”