Canada's inflation rate spiked to a two-year high in January, hitting 2.1%. That is the “official” inflation rate. For readers who eat food and/or live in homes, the real inflation rate is much higher. Higher gasoline prices were blamed for the jump in the “official” inflation rate. In Canadian markets, the S&P/TSX Composite plunged by over 1.5%, while the Venture Exchange also closed lower on the day.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 247.73 points to 15,533.47, while the TSX Venture Exchange lost 3.18 points to 836.27.
The Canadian was down $0.0004, remaining at 76 cents.
Crude oil prices lost $0.41 to $54.04.
The price of gold rose $7.25 to $1,256.56.
In U.S. markets; the Dow added 11.44 points to 20,821.76, the S&P 500 added 3.53 points to 2,367.34, and the NASDAQ added 9.80 points to 5,845.31.
In world markets; the Nikkei lost 87.52 to 19,283.54. The Hang Seng was down 148.24 to 23,965.70. The FTSE lost 27.56 points to 7,243.70, while the DAX was down 142.07 points to 11,804.03.