Food prices, services and durable goods lead the deceleration in the Consumer Price Index
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 2.7% on a year-over-year basis in April, down from a 2.9% gain in March. Broad-based deceleration in the headline CPI was led by food prices, services and durable goods. On a monthly basis, the CPI rose 0.5% in April, mainly driven by prices for gasoline. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the CPI rose 0.2% in April.
Source: Consumer Price Index, April 2024
Canadian new home prices increase slightly in April 2024
The national index rose by 0.2% monthly in April on the strength of increases in large urban centres such as Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver. Overall, prices increased in 5 of the 27 census metropolitan areas (CMAs) surveyed, were unchanged in 15 CMAs and declined in 7. The largest month-over-month increases in April were reported in Edmonton (+1.1%) and Calgary (+0.9%).
Source: New Housing Price Index, April 2024
Slightly fewer youth receive regular Employment Insurance benefits in March 2024
Following increases totalling 3,300 (+7.6%) from October 2023 to February 2024, the number of youth (aged 15 to 24) receiving regular Employment Insurance (EI) benefits edged down in March (-500; -1.0%), all among young men. In the 12 months to March 2024, the number of regular EI recipients increased among both young men (+8,100; +33.9%) and young women (+1,800; +15.9%). At 45,000 in March 2024, the current number of young EI recipients was 2.1% below the average level from 2017 to 2019 (46,000).
Source: Employment Insurance, March 2024
Core retail sales decline in March 2024
Retail sales decreased 0.2% to $66.4 billion in March. Sales were down in seven of nine subsectors and were led by decreases at furniture, home furnishings, electronics and appliances retailers. Core retail sales—which exclude gasoline stations and fuel vendors and motor vehicle and parts dealers—were down 0.6% in March. In volume terms, retail sales decreased 0.4% in March.
Source: Retail trade, March 2024
Tourism gross domestic product continues to expand in 2023
Tourism gross domestic product (GDP), which measures the unduplicated production of goods and services purchased by tourists across all industries, was up 9.5% annually in 2023 and rose 2.5% from the third to the fourth quarter. Transportation (+25.5%) accounted for nearly half of the increase in tourism GDP in 2023. Economy-wide, GDP in the air transportation industry rose 28.9%.
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