The Financial Post reports in its Wednesday edition that Canadian consumer prices unexpectedly decreased, driven by falling gasoline and travel tour costs, with airfares dropping as fewer passengers travelled to the U.S. A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post reports that the consumer price index rose 2.3 per cent year-over-year in March, down from 2.6 per cent in February, and increased 0.3 per cent from the previous month, both below expectations. The Bank of Canada's core inflation rates also slightly decelerated to 2.85 per cent annually, compared with 2.9 per cent in February, with the three-month moving average slowing to 2.74 per cent from 3.32 per cent. Economists expected core rates to tick higher. The BOC may pause its easing campaign on Wednesday for the first time since cutting borrowing costs last June. Recent surveys show consumer and business expectations of the trade war, driven by U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff rollout, could lead to higher inflation. Traders in overnight swaps boosted bets on a rate cut to about 45 per cent after the release of the data, from just over 30 per cent previously. Before Tuesday's data, a slight majority of economists in a Bloomberg survey saw the BOC holding rates steady.