Canadian Personal Finance Blog

CPI Delta Returns to Positive

Yes the CPI for October is up 0.1% year over year (as opposed to last month’s year over year which was negative), this means a modest increase overall in prices, which sounds good, but as usual the numbers may not reflect exactly what is really going on with prices in the marketplace.

Well you might ask the question, how much did energy affect this whole thing? Have a look at this graph:

CPI with and Without Energy

Six of Eight Components Up

The bad part about this is that energy still is buffering the index from reflecting real price increases in most areas of the CPI itself. Stats Canada points out:

Major components in the CPI recording price increases in October were: food; household operations, furnishings and equipment; recreation, education and reading; health and personal care; clothing and footwear; and alcoholic beverages and tobacco products.

I am getting tired of the price gouging on SIN items like liquor and smokes (luckily lottery ticket prices aren’t going up in prices, or I’d have nothing to buy on Fridays).

Bank of Canada Core Up

The Bank of Canada’s Core rate is at 1.8% year over year, which is creeping into the “optimal” range for the Bank of Canada, but it also means that if prices go up a little bit more (as a percentage), then we might see some action from the central bank in this area (i.e. Bank Rate hikes).

The Big Table

Reader’s Note: Tomorrow will be my regular Random Thoughts post, and the conclusion of my Risk and Life postings will be on Monday.