The Financial Post reports in its Saturday, Sept. 20, edition that while the consumer price index has been tracking the course laid out by policymakers, the Bank of Canada's preferred indicator -- the so-called core index -- has suddenly picked up its stride. The Post's Gordon Isfeld writes that the CPI reading showed an annual rate of inflation of 2.1 per cent in August -- slightly above the BOC's midpoint target. Last month's year-over-year increase matched the July level and matched economists' forecasts. Those readings came after a 2.4-per-cent spike in June that now looks to have been a blip. Core inflation took many analysts by surprise. The core index, which the BOC uses to determine longer-term trends in pricing pressures, also rose by an annual rate of 2.1 per cent in August -- the highest level since April, 2012, -- and a sizable jump from a 1.7-per-cent gain the previous month and a 1.8-per-cent advance in June. Forecasters had expected last month's increase in the core rate to be closer to 1.8 per cent. The BOC has kept its benchmark lending level at 1 per cent since September, 2010. Most forecasters have ruled out any increase in that rate until mid-2015 at the earliest.