Statistics
Canada informed on Tuesday the country’s consumer price index (CPI) jumped
0.4 per cent m-o-m in October,
following an unrevised 0.4 per cent m-o-m fall in the previous month. This was
the first monthly gain in CPI in three months.
On a y-o-y
basis, Canada’s inflation rate surged by 2.0 per cent last month, quickening sharply from
an unrevised 1.6 per cent in September. This marked the first acceleration
in the annual rate in five months.
Economists had predicted
inflation would increase by 0.3 per cent m-o-m and soar 1.9 per cent y-o-y in October.
According to
the report, the October rebound in the headline annual inflation primarily
reflected a weaker y-o-y decrease in gasoline prices (-4.0 per cent y-o-y in October compared
to -10.7 per cent y-o-y in September).
Meanwhile, the
monthly advance in inflation was due to price increases in 6 of all 8 major items,
led by clothing and footwear (+2.4 per cent m-o-m), shelter (+0.7 per cent
m-o-m), and transportation (+0.4 per cent m-o-m), which, in its turn, primarily
reflected a climb in gasoline prices (+0.7 per cent m-o-m).
The trimmed-mean
CPI - the preferred measure of core inflation of the Bank of Canada (BoC) - went
up 2.6 per cent y-o-y in October, following an unrevised
2.6 per cent y-o-y increase in
September. This marked the strongest annual advance in three months and represented
the first acceleration in the gauge since May. Economists had anticipated a climb of 2.4 per cent y-o-y.