While there are fewer job vacancies, unemployment remains near a record low. More workers are coming into Canada, but they are being hired very quickly, reflecting strong labour demand. On inflation, we discussed April’s unexpected tick up to 4.4% from 4.3% in March.
While that might not seem like much, it was in the opposite direction of what we expected, and the details behind the headline number were concerning. In particular, three-month  -3measures of core inflation remain elevated and seem to have lost their downward momentum. And goods inflation surprised us by accelerating in April, reversing course after months of deceleration.