A chart-by-chart breakdown of the week’s business and economic news.
Factory funk
The week opened with a set of disappointing data from Canada’s manufacturing sector. Factory sales contracted 2.1 per cent in April, a far worse showing than expected. The inventory-to-sales ratio rose to its highest level since August, 2009.
Wireless charges
How do Canada's wireless prices compare with international rates? That's one area covered in a new report commissioned by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission and Industry Canada. It found that “Canada’s mobile wireless prices once again rank on the high side of the international group of countries included in the study.”
Alberta's EI binge
The number of Albertans receiving employment insurance benefits rose for a sixth consecutive month. The province's EI claims, however, declined 8.8% in April, suggesting the oil shock's impact may be waning.
Inflation lifts
The Consumer Price Index rose 0.9 per cent in the 12 months through May, up from 0.8 per cent in the April reading. Energy prices continue to weigh on the overall picture, with gasoline prices down 17.4 per cent in May from a year earlier. Excluding energy prices, the CPI was up 2.2 per cent in May.
Rising rents
The average price of a two-bedroom apartment in Canada was $949 as of April, up $19 from a year earlier, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.'s latest report on the rental market. (CMHC's report looks at 35 major centres, which are largely based on Statistics Canada's Census Metropolitan Areas.) Here are the five priciest and cheapest Canadian cities in which to rent.