A separate report on Friday showed retail sales rose more than expected in June, though flat volumes dulled the enthusiasm of analysts looking for signs the economy is pulling out of its slump. In particular, the gasoline index was down 12.2% in the 12 months to July, compared with a 14.1% decrease in June. For all food at home, the July index was 242, up 0.9% from July 2014.
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Gas station sales rose by 2.6 per cent in the month as prices at the pump rose.
Reuters noted that core CPI, which excludes volatile items such as food and energy, rose by only 0.1 in July due largely to decline in airfare prices. Year-over-year, energy costs were down 7.4%.
“What stands out here is Canada does have one of the higher headline inflation rates in the industrialized world”, said Doug Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets.
British Columbia had inflation of 1.0% in July, year-over-year, after an increase of 0.8% in June.
“It is still likely the case that the next move by the Bank of Canada will be more influenced by near-term economic growth“, Ferley said.
After four straight months of gains, sales at new-car dealers declined by 0.5 percent, dragging the overall motor vehicle and parts sector down 0.1 percent.
The value of Canadian wholesale trade rebounded in June after a drop in May, rising 1.3 percent on broad strength across most of the economy, Statistics Canada said on Thursday. Gains were recorded in six of seven subsectors, which together represented 82% of wholesale inventories.
The building material and supplies subsector (-0.6%) recorded the sole decline in June, down for the second consecutive month.
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The inventory-to-sales ratio is a measure of the time in months required to exhaust inventories if sales were to remain at their current level.
