The consumer price index increased 2.3 per cent from March 2024, decelerating from 2.6 per cent the previous month, Statistics Canada reported. Gauges that the Bank of Canada uses to filter volatile prices remain elevated. (The Logic)

Talking point: Lower gasoline prices and a big drop in the cost of travel tours took the edge off headline inflation ahead of the Bank of Canada’s next interest-rate announcement tomorrow. Air transportation prices plunged 12 per cent from a year earlier amid a significant drop in trips to U.S. destinations. The cost of cellular services decreased almost nine per cent as carriers engaged in “industry-wide promotions.” Yet embers from the post-pandemic inflation surge continue to glow. The Bank of Canada’s “core” measures of inflation were close to three per cent, the upper end of governor Tiff Macklem’s comfort zone. Given the likelihood that tariffs will stoke inflation, Macklem could opt to leave interest rates unchanged and give himself more time to make sense of the Trump administration’s erratic trade policy.