Canada’s Economy Strengthens as CPI, Retail Sales Beat Forecasts

(Bloomberg) -- Canada’s economy is proving increasingly robust in the second quarter, with inflation and retail sales coming in ahead of economists’ expectations.

The consumer price index rose at an annual pace of 2.5 percent in June, the fastest year-over-year acceleration since 2012, Statistics Canada said Friday from Ottawa. Economists in a Bloomberg survey anticipated a 2.3 percent increase. In a separate report, the agency said the nation’s retailers posted a 2 percent gain in sales in May, the biggest monthly advance since October, and double the median forecast from economists.

The reports, a reverse of last month’s weather-related disappointment in sales and inflation data, will bolster expectations for continued interest rate increases this year from the Bank of Canada. The retail sales report in particular, which indicates consumer spending is ticking along, will be taken as a positive signal for the underlying strength of the country’s economy. Sales excluding car dealers were up 1.4 percent, versus a 0.5 percent forecast.

“The biggest surprise was the ex-autos reading in retail sales,” Royce Mendes, senior economist at CIBC World Markets, said by phone from Toronto. “It blew past expectations. This was a lot of people coming back to stores after weather affected April’s numbers.”

The Canadian dollar jumped 1.1 percent to C$1.3132 against its U.S. counterpart at 9:07 a.m. Toronto time. Yields on two year government bonds climbed 4 basis points to 1.97 percent. Investors are now pricing in about a 60 percent chance of a quarter-point rate increase at the central bank’s October meeting, up from 50 percent before the data release.

“Traders are going to increasingly price in a third Bank of Canada hike this year,” Mendes said. “That’s still contingent on the evolution of data moving forward. We knew the second quarter was going to look pretty healthy. The question is, how much does it tail off in the second half of the year,” he said, citing questions over business investment, trade policy and the impact of rising interest rates in the economy.

The inflation numbers are less of a surprise, given the Bank of Canada had indicated it expects CPI to spike before falling back later this year. The annual increase reflects higher gasoline prices and food purchased from restaurants, Statistics Canada said. On the month, consumer prices rose 0.1 percent in June, versus an expectation for a flat reading.

Core measures of inflation -- seen by officials as a better gauge of underlying trends -- ticked up slightly to an average of 1.97 percent, from 1.93 percent in May.

The retail sales numbers largely reflected an increase in receipts at vehicle dealerships and gas stations, but even excluding autos the numbers came in well ahead of what economists were expecting. The strength was volume related, with sales up 2 percent once price changes were factored out.

--With assistance from Kevin Varley.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Fournier in Ottawa at cfournier3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Theophilos Argitis at targitis@bloomberg.net, Stephen Wicary

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