The Financial Post reports in its Wednesday, Feb. 21, edition that Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce economist Andrew Grantham says there was plenty of evidence in the latest inflation reading that elevated interest rates are starting to cut into discretionary consumer spending. The Post's Gigi Suhanic writes that Mr. Grantham said in a note on the Bank of Canada's latest inflation report, "The unexpectedly large declines in airline fares and clothing prices may be a sign of weakness in consumer spending, but could also partly reflect some data volatility." Airline fares fell 14 per cent year over year. Clothing and footwear fell 1.8 per cent, seasonally adjusted, in the "sharpest monthly decline since April, 2020, during the start of the pandemic." Even if there were a partial rebound in inflation, it is still on track to come in at 2.9 per cent in the first quarter, Mr. Grantham estimated. That is "well below" the Bank of Canada's forecast of 3.2 per cent inflation in its most recent Monetary Policy Report for the same period. Mr. Grantham said, "So even with GDP growth running somewhat stronger than they expected, we still anticipate that interest rate cuts will start in June."