Canadian inflation was up a bit in December:
Statistics Canada says the end of the federal government’s tax holiday a year earlier pushed the annual pace of inflation up two ticks to 2.4 per cent in December.
A poll of economists heading into Monday’s data release had expected the annual inflation rate would hold steady at 2.2 per cent.
Statscan said Ottawa’s move to take GST off some items for two months starting mid-December in 2024 dropped prices for dining out, alcohol, children’s toys and more a year earlier, but those discounts fell out of the annual comparison and pushed the Consumer Price Index higher to end the year.
That led to an 8.5-per-cent annual increase in the price of restaurant meals, which Statscan said fuelled the acceleration in the headline number. Some grocery items including potato chips and confectionery goods were also included in the tax holiday and saw annual price jumps in December, the agency said.
Overall, the cost of food bought from the grocery store rose 5 per cent annually, though Statscan said price levels were broadly unchanged month-to-month. Grocery store inflation has been accelerating in recent months, rising 4.7 per cent year-over-year in November.
…
Andrew Grantham, senior economist at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, said while the distortion from the “tax holiday” was expected, what caught forecasters off-guard was the jump in transportation costs last month.While the cost of air transportation was marginally lower year-over-year, Statscan said airfare prices surged 34.5 per cent month-over-month – outpacing the previous year’s holiday price hike. The cost of travel tours also rose on a monthly basis, which Statscan attributed to higher prices for U.S. destinations.
| HIMIPref™ Preferred Indices These values reflect the December 2008 revision of the HIMIPref™ Indices Values are provisional and are finalized monthly |
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| Index | Mean Current Yield (at bid) |
Median YTW |
Median Average Trading Value |
Median Mod Dur (YTW) |
Issues | Day’s Perf. | Index Value |
| Ratchet | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.4290 % | 2,454.2 |
| FixedFloater | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.4290 % | 4,653.5 |
| Floater | 5.87 % | 6.11 % | 57,356 | 13.75 | 3 | 0.4290 % | 2,681.8 |
| OpRet | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.0315 % | 3,667.3 |
| SplitShare | 4.76 % | 4.35 % | 79,564 | 3.09 | 5 | -0.0315 % | 4,379.6 |
| Interest-Bearing | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.0315 % | 3,417.1 |
| Perpetual-Premium | 5.65 % | 5.56 % | 86,709 | 6.84 | 9 | -0.1056 % | 3,095.0 |
| Perpetual-Discount | 5.54 % | 5.61 % | 52,707 | 14.52 | 25 | 0.2380 % | 3,410.7 |
| FixedReset Disc | 5.84 % | 5.95 % | 119,410 | 13.85 | 29 | 0.2754 % | 3,179.6 |
| Insurance Straight | 5.48 % | 5.53 % | 65,743 | 14.57 | 22 | 0.4813 % | 3,322.0 |
| FloatingReset | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.2754 % | 3,782.5 |
| FixedReset Prem | 5.95 % | 4.56 % | 85,691 | 2.17 | 19 | 0.0807 % | 2,658.5 |
| FixedReset Bank Non | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.2754 % | 3,250.2 |
| FixedReset Ins Non | 5.28 % | 5.45 % | 76,121 | 14.45 | 14 | 0.1258 % | 3,133.7 |
| Performance Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Change | Notes |
| POW.PR.B | Perpetual-Discount | -3.02 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-01-19 Maturity Price : 23.17 Evaluated at bid price : 23.47 Bid-YTW : 5.73 % |
| BN.PR.R | FixedReset Disc | -1.43 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-01-19 Maturity Price : 21.30 Evaluated at bid price : 21.30 Bid-YTW : 6.11 % |
| BN.PF.E | FixedReset Disc | 1.30 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-01-19 Maturity Price : 22.52 Evaluated at bid price : 23.35 Bid-YTW : 5.79 % |
| ENB.PR.B | FixedReset Disc | 1.90 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-01-19 Maturity Price : 21.50 Evaluated at bid price : 21.50 Bid-YTW : 6.28 % |
| SLF.PR.G | FixedReset Ins Non | 1.91 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-01-19 Maturity Price : 19.77 Evaluated at bid price : 19.77 Bid-YTW : 5.50 % |
| GWO.PR.T | Insurance Straight | 2.17 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-01-19 Maturity Price : 23.21 Evaluated at bid price : 23.50 Bid-YTW : 5.52 % |
| ENB.PF.A | FixedReset Disc | 2.44 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-01-19 Maturity Price : 22.38 Evaluated at bid price : 23.05 Bid-YTW : 6.15 % |
| GWO.PR.P | Insurance Straight | 3.79 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-01-19 Maturity Price : 24.15 Evaluated at bid price : 24.40 Bid-YTW : 5.58 % |
| PWF.PR.S | Perpetual-Discount | 9.23 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-01-19 Maturity Price : 21.65 Evaluated at bid price : 21.90 Bid-YTW : 5.49 % |
| Volume Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Shares Traded |
Notes |
| PWF.PR.P | FixedReset Disc | 83,100 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-01-19 Maturity Price : 19.65 Evaluated at bid price : 19.65 Bid-YTW : 5.78 % |
| BN.PF.J | FixedReset Prem | 57,800 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2027-12-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.51 Bid-YTW : 5.33 % |
| IFC.PR.E | Insurance Straight | 40,000 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-01-19 Maturity Price : 23.26 Evaluated at bid price : 23.55 Bid-YTW : 5.56 % |
| PWF.PF.A | Perpetual-Discount | 38,100 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-01-19 Maturity Price : 20.22 Evaluated at bid price : 20.22 Bid-YTW : 5.59 % |
| FTS.PR.G | FixedReset Disc | 32,400 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-01-19 Maturity Price : 23.38 Evaluated at bid price : 24.82 Bid-YTW : 5.27 % |
| GWO.PR.H | Insurance Straight | 28,800 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-01-19 Maturity Price : 21.91 Evaluated at bid price : 22.15 Bid-YTW : 5.52 % |
| There were 15 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares. | |||
| Wide Spread Highlights | ||
| See TMX DataLinx: ‘Last’ != ‘Close’ and the posts linked therein for an idea of why these quotes are so horrible. | ||
| Issue | Index | Quote Data and Yield Notes |
| CU.PR.J | Perpetual-Discount | Quote: 21.74 – 22.74 Spot Rate : 1.0000 Average : 0.6570 YTW SCENARIO |
| POW.PR.B | Perpetual-Discount | Quote: 23.47 – 24.40 Spot Rate : 0.9300 Average : 0.5951 YTW SCENARIO |
| POW.PR.H | Perpetual-Premium | Quote: 25.30 – 26.30 Spot Rate : 1.0000 Average : 0.6793 YTW SCENARIO |
| BN.PR.T | FixedReset Disc | Quote: 21.40 – 22.75 Spot Rate : 1.3500 Average : 1.0732 YTW SCENARIO |
| IFC.PR.A | FixedReset Ins Non | Quote: 21.48 – 21.95 Spot Rate : 0.4700 Average : 0.3351 YTW SCENARIO |
| NA.PR.E | FixedReset Prem | Quote: 25.51 – 25.92 Spot Rate : 0.4100 Average : 0.2873 YTW SCENARIO |