The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 2.2% on a year-over-year basis in November, matching the increase in October. Year over year, prices for services rose at a slower pace in November compared with October. Lower prices for travel tours and traveller accommodation, in addition to slower growth for rent prices, put downward pressure on the all-items CPI. Offsetting the slower growth in services on an annual basis were higher prices for goods, driven by price increases for groceries as well as a smaller decline for gasoline prices. Excluding gasoline, the CPI rose 2.6% for the third consecutive month. The CPI rose 0.1% ... (full story)

Canada’s annual inflation rate held steady at 2.2 per cent in November, according to Statistics Canada data published Tuesday. Economists had expected the inflation rate to rise at a slightly faster pace than October, to 2.3 per cent, according to consensus estimates published by CIBC Economics. “This month’s data is unlikely to sway the Bank of Canada’s current perception that underlying inflationary pressures are around 2.5 per cent,” CIBC economist Andrew Grantham wrote in a note Friday ahead of the release. “While that’s too strong to warrant talk of more cuts, it’s also not worrying enough to justify recent ... (full story)