The Bank of Canada is widely expected to hold the target for the overnight rate at 5% at the upcoming policy meeting on 6 December. At the October policy meeting, the accompanying statement warned that “progress towards price stability is slow and inflationary risks have increased, and [the BoC] is prepared to raise the policy rate further if needed”. However, since that meeting the activity data has softened, the labour market has shown evidence of some cooling and inflation has continued to slow. Consequently, the threshold for a rate hike does not appear to have been met. Moreover, Governor Tiff Macklem has since ... (full story)