The Daily Chase: Canadian inflation heats up a little

Here are five things you need to know this morning

Inflation warms up to 1.9% despite GST rebate: Canada’s consumer price index (CPI) rose by 0.1 per cent in January and by 1.9 per cent in the past 12 months. That’s according to the latest data from Statistics Canada released this morning, showing the country’s inflation rate was in line with expectations, and slightly up from December’s 1.8 per cent pace. The data agency said higher prices for energy, notably gasoline and natural gas, were the main contributors to the upside, while those price hikes were “partly offset by continued downward pressure on prices for products affected by the goods and services tax (GST)/harmonized sales tax (HST) break introduced in December.” Those tax rebates were a big reason why food prices fell by 0.6 per cent in the year up to January, the first annual decline since May of 2017. Food purchased from restaurants was especially down, declining by 5.1 per cent in the past year. The Canadian dollar moved slightly higher when the numbers came out, and traders downgraded their expectations for a rate cut from the Bank of Canada at its next policy meeting from about a coin toss this time yesterday to roughly a one in three chance after the slightly hotter inflation print came out this morning.

Delta jet crash lands at Pearson: We’ll be watching for reaction to the shocking news out of Toronto’s Pearson Airport on Monday where a Delta Airlines jet crash landed and flipped over. The plane had 76 passengers and four crew on board. Fifteen people were injured in the incident, including three critically, but according to initial reports, there are no fatalities. Investigators aren’t sure what happened but dramatic video circulating online shows the jet coming in for a hard landing. At some point the wing appears to clip the ground, a fire ignites, and the jet then flipped itself over clockwise and lost its tail portion. We’ll have extensive coverage through the day. Delta shares were down 10 per cent at one point pre market before recovering somewhat once trading began.

Tariffs are even impacting the housing market: The Canadian Real Estate Association has published new data on Canada’s housing market this morning. The headline number is $670,064 – that’s the average selling price of a home on the realtor group’s MLS system in January 2025. That’s an increase of 1.1 per cent in the past year. But CREA says the real story is what’s happening on the supply side, where new listings rose by 11 per cent from December’s level in January, which isn’t typically a busy month for new listings. While there was a surge in new potential sellers, actual sales declined, especially in the latter half of the month. CREA pegs that to uncertainty surrounding a potential trade war and the impact on the economy. “The timing of that change in demand leaves little doubt as to the cause – uncertainty around tariffs,” CREA’s chief economist Shaun Cathcart said in a release. “Markets that had been steadily tightening up since the fall are now suddenly in a softer pricing situation again, particularly in British Columbia and Ontario.”

Competition Bureau probing whether big landlords use AI to raise rent: Canada’s Competition Bureau is investigating the use of AI-drive algorithmic pricing in Canada’s rental market. A U.S. lawsuit underway now alleges that dozens of companies use Texas-based RealPage’s YieldStar to share sensitive competitive information about local rental rates. The U.S. Justice Department amended the lawsuit last month to include new landlords. Independent media outlet The Breach first reported that Canada’s Competition Bureau was looking into the matter in November, and the Bureau confirmed to The Canadian Press this morning that it is.

RBI buys out partner in China: A subsidiary of Restaurant Brands International has bought out its partners’ interest in Burger King China for $158 million. The company said in a filing it has acquired the rights to two holding companies and is seeking a new local partner. The joint venture helped Burger King grow from 60 locations in China in 2012 to about 1,500 today.

A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Delta Airlines shares were down on Monday. In fact, they were not as the New York Stock Exchange was closed.