Canadian inflation and retail data coming this week

Canadian inflation and retail sales will be the focus in an otherwise quiet week for economic data.

National Bank is forecasting the annual inflation rate for August to decline by 0.2% when the data are released Friday. The drop is expected mainly from a fall of 1.5% in gas prices and a decline in the price of airline tickets after a 16.4% surge in July, a report from the bank said.

On the same day, National Bank is forecasting retail sales data from July to show a 0.3% gain, while CIBC forecasts a 0.4% rise. Purchases of bigger items such as cars are expected to have slightly declined in July, CIBC’s Andrew Grantham says in a report, and his ex-auto forecast is a 0.6% gain.

“Momentum in household spending is certainly slowing down,” the report says. “A combination of higher debt service costs and slimmer employment gains suggest that the best days are now in the rearview mirror for this former engine of growth.”

Global economic data

On Wednesday, National Bank is forecasting a rise in the pace of U.S. housing starts and the number of building permits in August. It would mark the second consecutive gain after a sharp decline of 12% in June.

Other economic data to be released next week include the September Markit’s Purchasing Managers’ Index for the Eurozone and Japan, as well as Japanese inflation data.

Read CIBC’s week ahead and National Bank’s weekly economic watch.

Staff

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.