The Financial Post reports in its Saturday, Aug. 31, edition that Canada's top banks may still be facing credit headwinds, but analysts say that the relatively stable earnings display in the last quarter suggests that they are not going to "fall off the cliff" any time soon. The Post's Naimul Karim writes that the Big Six lenders, which dominate the market, last week reported financial results for a quarter that was once again dominated by questions about the amount of money they were keeping aside for loans that might go bad. Provisions for credit losses, or PCLs for short, have been increasing at the big lenders as interest rates were rising, pinching the finances of indebted consumers and businesses alike. Analysts, however, say that the banks' ability to produce solid earnings despite tighter monetary conditions was a big positive. Jefferies Financial analyst John Aiken says: "The banks are able to earn through these high provisions even in a very challenging economy. While not the best of quarters, we are actually quite pleased with the (banking sector's) earning stability. ... This bolsters the outlook as long as we can get a bit of a soft landing in the economy given the rate cuts."