Canadian Retail Sales and Consumer Price Inflation - June 21, 2013

BCREA ECONOMICS NOW

Canadian Retail Sales and Consumer Price Inflation - June 21, 2013

Canadian retail sales rose 0.1 per cent in April following flat sales in March. In volume terms, sales rose 0.5 per cent due to lower retail prices. Higher sales were reported in 6 of the 11 retail sub-sectors.

Retail sales in BC have fell 0.7 per cent month over month and 0.3 per cent year-over-year. Restrained consumer spending in the province has kept retail sales basically flat over the past 12 months.

Canadian inflation continued to trend lower in May, rising just 0.7 per cent over the past 12 months. Inflation has now fallen below the Bank of Canada's 1 per cent lower bound on its inflation control range for the past two months. The Bank of Canada's core inflation index, which excludes eight of the CPI's most volatile components such as food and energy, rose 1.1 per cent in May, matching the increase in April.