Statistics Canada reported that the consumer price index increased 3.1 per cent from October 2022, compared with a year-over-year gain of 3.8 per cent the previous month. A sharp drop in gasoline prices was largely responsible for the improvement; with pump prices removed from the cost-of-living index, headline inflation was 3.6 per cent, Statistics Canada said. Mortgage interest costs, groceries and rent continued to put upward pressure on inflation. (The Logic)

Talking point: The latest inflation numbers could keep the Bank of Canada from raising interest rates next month, as governor Tiff Macklem will like that inflation is back at the edge of the central bank’s comfort zone of one per cent to three per cent. However, the bank is mandated to keep inflation closer to two per cent and Macklem has said he’s determined to fulfill his mission. Measures of “core” inflation, which remove volatile items such as gasoline, continue to hover around 3.5 per cent, suggesting inflation could be sticky and that an extended period of higher interest rates will be needed to balance supply and demand. Maybe, said economists at CIBC, who observed that rapidly slowing economic growth could force the Bank of Canada to cut interest rates as early as the second quarter of next year. We’ll get Macklem’s take on the numbers tomorrow, when he gives a speech in Saint John.