Data Watch - April 17

CANADA

as with the U.S. on Wednesday, today's Canadian inflation numbers for March came in a bit softer than expected on the headline but a bit higher than expected on the core; headline CPI was up 0.2% MoM versus the expectation of 0.3%, resulting in a YoY rate of 1.2% (versus 1.4%); the Bank of Canada's core CPI measure came in up 0.3% versus 0.2% expected for MoM, resulting in a tick up to the 2.0% target on the YoY rate; higher food and shelter costs (higher mortgage interest costs, up 4.2% YoY) were the two primary upward sources of headline inflation, while transportation costs were the biggest downward offset (gasoline prices down 21% YoY); excluding food, CPI has fallen 0.2% over the last year; on a seasonally-adjusted basis, CPI actually fell 0.3% during the month; excluding food and energy, the seasonally-adjusted monthly CPI was flat; regionally, consumer price rises were most pronounced in Ontario, thanks to rising vehicle insurance premiums

US

the only U.S. data today is UofM confidence

INTERNATIONAL

Japanese consumer confidence is up from the December low of 26.7, but not by quite as much as expected, coming in for March at 29.6

Tokyo department store sales are now down 12.9% YoY, while nationwide sales are down 13.1% YoY

Italian industrial orders are now down 32.7% YoY, a touch better than last month, while industrial sales have fallen further, to a low of -24% YoY

Eurozone construction output is down 11.8% YoY