Meals and shelter proceed to drive inflation
Whereas falling gasoline costs led to a average 1.6% annual inflation fee in September, Statistics Canada revealed that October’s annual inflation fee had ticked again as much as 2%.
Although fuel costs proceed to fall, meals and shelter make up such a lot of what Canadians spend, they dominate the general inflation image. Shelter makes up 28.6% of what Canadians spend, and meals has now elevated to 16.7%. Consequently, whereas gadgets like clothes and transportation aren’t actually going up, meals and shelter pull up the annualized common to 2%. The inflation fee for shelter is coming down slowly, nevertheless it continues to be a ache level for a lot of Canadians.
| CPI tems | September 2024 | October 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| All | 1.6% | 2.0% |
| Meals | 2.8% | 3.0% |
| Shelter | 5.0% | 4.8% |
| Family operations, furnishings and gear | -0.2% | -0.1% |
| Clothes and footwear | -4.4% | -2.3% |
| Transportation | -1.5% | 0.2% |
| Well being and private care | 3.1% | 3.1% |
| Recreation, training and studying | 0.0% | -0.9% |
| Alcoholic drinks, tobacco merchandise and leisure hashish | 3.0% | 3.0% |
Whereas costs for companies rose at an annual fee of three.6% in October, costs for items had been up simply 0.1%. (Typically talking, service would come with gadgets comparable to haircuts, housekeeping companies, or dental care. Items can be every little thing from TVs to sneakers.) Property tax will increase are all the time a spotlight of the October inflation report, since that’s when they’re recalculated annually. This yr, property taxes rose 6% (in comparison with a 4.9% improve final yr).
This inflation improve goes to make it more durable for the Financial institution of Canada (BoC) to justify giant rate of interest cuts going ahead. If inflation stays stubbornly excessive, we might even see the BoC cut back on its forecasted rate of interest cuts. Given the U.S. election outcomes that we commented on final week, “increased for longer” rates of interest might very properly be the brand new possible path ahead.
Canada’s greatest dividend shares
Lacking the Goal
One of many largest surprises on Wall Avenue this week was the large earnings miss by Goal. Shares had been down 21% on Wednesday after Goal revealed it’s having issue producing gross sales income regardless of a heavy discounting technique.
American retailer earnings highlights
It’s been an enormous week for large U.S. company retailers. All numbers under are in U.S. {dollars}.
- Walmart (WMT/NYSE): Earnings per share of $0.58 (versus $0.53 predicted). Income of $169.59 billion (versus $167.72 billion predicted).
- Goal (TGT/NYSE): Earnings per share of $1.85 (versus $2.30 predicted). Income of $25.45 billion (versus $25.21 billion estimate).
- Lowe’s (LOW/NYSE): Earnings per share of $2.89 (versus $2.82 predicted), and revenues of $23.59 billion (versus $23.91 billion predicted).
Goal CEO Brian Cornell blamed the unhealthy quarter on “lingering softness in discretionary classes,” in addition to poor stock administration. Goal incurred elevated transport prices because it paid excessive charges to hurry items into its warehouses forward of the port strike in October. These prices, mixed with flatlining demand, led to a pricey stock build-up. Shares at the moment are at a 52-week low.
In stark distinction to the big earnings miss by Goal, its massive blue competitor continued to indicate why it’s best-in-class. Walmart beat earnings—but once more—and confirmed the monetary consistency that buyers love. Other than higher stock administration, the most important motive for Walmart’s increased gross sales numbers doubtless relate to the totally different product mixes of the 2 retailers. At this level, Walmart is a large grocery retailer with a big everything-else-store hooked up, as 60% of Walmart’s U.S. enterprise is groceries (whereas solely 23% of Goal’s gross sales are groceries).
Whereas on-line gross sales had been up 10% for Goal, they had been up 22% for Walmart. Walmart Chief Monetary Officer John David Rainey said that clients continued to be “targeted on worth and worth.” He added that tariffs may pressure Walmart to extend costs, however that it was too quickly to say what merchandise would really feel the tariff pinch the toughest.
Shares of Lowe’s dropped about 3% on Tuesday when it introduced an earnings beat, however a slight miss on revenues. CEO Marvin Ellison stated that administration believes clients are delaying residence enchancment tasks till charges have completed coming down. They anticipate gross sales to choose up in 2025.
