Canada's Consumer Prices Edge Up Just Slightly in November, Signaling Price Growth is Normalizing, Says Desjardins

09:29 AM EST, 12/15/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Canadian headline prices rose 0.1% month over month in November, matching expectations, said Desjardins after Monday's consumer price index data.

That left the annual rate of inflation tracking 2.2% for the second month in a row. Underlying inflation also showed signs of softening, noted the bank.

The average three-month annualized rate of the Bank of Canada's trimmed mean and median measures fell to 2.3% from 2.6%, respectively. That's the slowest pace of growth since April 2024. The more traditional excluding food and energy core inflation rate also cooled off, with the three-month annualized rate declining to 2.1% from 2.3% in October.

The subdued inflation readings were driven by a number of factors, pointed out Desjardins. After an unusual spike in October, shelter costs settled back down. The same for cell phone service prices. Travel tour prices remained under pressure. Food and gasoline prices provided some offset in November, with prices in those categories rising sharply.

That said, those categories can be very volatile, so there's not much signal in those moves. The only real fly in the ointment in this data release was the fact that the share of categories with prices rising faster than 3% increased slightly, stated the bank.

The latest inflation numbers point to generally benign price pressures, added Desjardins. As a result, central bankers can take comfort that a stagflationary environment isn't emerging.

The bank continues to believe that downside risks to the economy and inflation will be more pertinent over the next few months, with lingering uncertainty about the CUSMA trade deal review weighing on activity and the government's fiscal stimulus not a major factor until later in the year.

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