Hope you enjoyed the long weekend. Loads of economic data in the past few days, so we left Friday’s 280K housing starts and $700M capital inflow out of this one.

Headline inflation of 2.8% came in lighter than expectations, but was still up meaningfully versus last month…

… on the back of a near-30% Y/Y increase in gasoline prices linked to last year’s carbon tax removal and the situation in Iran.

That’s spilled over into the cost of other fuel oils, which sit more than 40% higher than last April…

… resulting in a doubling of transportation inflation versus March and carrying the print, while core inflation continues to slow on moderating food costs.

Building permits rose 10% to $13.5B in March, well ahead of expectations…

… driven by non-residential activity, which added $1.5B sequentially thanks to gains of ~$670M in BC linked to medical facilities and ~$510M in Ontario tied to industrial capacity.

That was more than enough to offset a decline in multi-family permitting, concentrated mainly in Ontario (down ~$390M) and Quebec (down ~$160M).

New home prices fell 0.4% M/M versus expectations for a flat reading…

… on a sharp reversal in the Prairie provinces, which added to continued weakness in Ontario and BC.

With unsold new unit inventory still climbing, the market hasn’t landed on a clearing price just yet.

Information Services (ISC) ran 9% after announcing Plenary (a CDPQ subsidiary) is taking it private in a $1.2B transaction, representing ~10x forward EBITDA…

… which sits well above where the stock has traded historically. With ISC’s registry business having exclusivity through 2053 and CPI escalators, the company is closer to infrastructure than software…

… and with a large runway for growth in its services business, the premium paid isn’t all that surprising - especially given the multiples on recent IPP deals.

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