Canadian Economy Falters On Stalled Inflation, Retail-Sales Drop

Canada’s economy showed unexpected weakness in the second quarter, recording sluggish readings for both inflation and retail sales. The consumer price index recorded an annual pace of 2.2 percent in May, unchanged from April and well below economist expectations for a 2.6 percent gain, Statistics Canada said Friday. In a separate report, the Ottawa-based agency said retailers recorded a 1.2 percent sales drop in April, also unexpected. The reports — which come on the heels of other disappointing data — raise questions about the underlying strength of the economy and could cast some doubt about how quickly the Bank of Canada proceeds with future rate hikes. “The soft patch in Canadian data continued today,” Royce Mendes, an economist at CIBC World Markets, said in a note to investors. Read more at Bloomberg.