The Financial Post reports in its Thursday, Dec. 12, edition that Canadians should not expect more jumbo-sized interest rate cuts, Stephen Brown, economist at Capital Economics, said in a note.
The Post's Gigi Suhanic writes that the Bank of Canada in its official statement said it will be taking a different approach on rate cuts in the new year.
"The accompanying communications were more hawkish than might have been expected, with the (central) bank no longer indicating that further cuts are guaranteed," Mr. Brown said, highlighting the shift in the statement to "we will be evaluating the need for further reductions in the policy rate one decision at a time" from "we expect to reduce the policy rate further" in the Oct. 23 decision.
He thinks policy-makers will continue to cut rates, just not as much as previously forecast. Capital Economics expects three more cuts of 25 basis points in 2025, pointing to a higher terminal rate than in earlier projections.
Mr. Brown thinks this rate-cutting cycle will end at 2.5 per cent rather than 2 per cent, given that the economy is showing some "green shoots" in consumer spending and the housing market, while some inflation pressures have reemerged.
© 2024 Canjex Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.