March inflation data from Statistics Canada:
- Prior was +1.4% y/y
- +0.6% m/m vs +0.5% exp
- Core CPI 2.1% y/y vs 1.7% exp
- Prior core CPI 1.9% (unrevised)
- Core CPI +0.7% vs +0.4% exp
Very hot inflation report at first look. A major part of the skew looks to be clothing prices, which rose 4.2% month-over-month. The 'recreation & education' category and 'alcohol & tobacco' were upward skews but it was largely that huge jump in clothing prices.
My guess is that some of these skews don't last. Earlier this week, BOC Governor Poloz was talking about putting together a new core CPI measure and highlighting skews in the data.
