The Financial Post reports in its Thursday edition that the Bank of Canada is holding its benchmark lending rate at 5 per cent, but warned that it was prepared to hike interest rates again if necessary, adding a hawkish overtone to its third consecutive hold. The Post's Gigi Suhanic took a sampling of various bank economists to gauge the BOC's move amid persistent inflation and unemployment rising. James Orlando at TD Economics says: "There has been obvious weakness emanating from the housing market for a while now, but more recently, consumer spending has slowed alongside a further cooling in the labour market. ... The BOC seems like it is preparing to sit on the sidelines for the next couple of months while maintaining its cautious rhetoric. Markets don't think the BOC will be able to get too comfortable. The next move is clearly a cut, with odds pointing to the first move in April. We agree. The next few months are going to be challenging given our expectation that the unemployment rate will continue to rise, which will hit consumer spending and bring inflation down along with it. No wonder the Canada two- and 10-year yields have fallen approximately 90 basis points over the last two months."