Canada’s consumer price index increased 1.7 per cent from July 2024, the slowest pace since September. While measures that strip out volatile prices remained elevated, they eased somewhat from early summer. (The Logic)

Talking point: Year-over-year changes in the consumer index have dropped below the Bank of Canada’s two-per-cent target because Ottawa killed the consumer carbon tax; excluding gasoline, the index rose 2.5 per cent from a year earlier. Other measures of underlying price pressures were also closer to—or at—three per cent, the high end of the Bank of Canada’s comfort zone. But those indicators may have peaked as slower growth dulls demand. For example, services inflation decelerated to 2.8 per cent, the slowest since January. The trade war makes forecasting almost impossible, but the door to more interest rate cuts has opened a crack.