BOC DECISION PREVIEW: INTEREST RATES SET TO REMAIN UNCHANGED DESPITE EASING INFLATION

• The Bank of Canada (BoC) is expected to keep its rates unchanged.
• The Canadian Dollar has met a tough resistance at around 1.3600.
• Canadian inflation remains sticky, although on a downward path.

There is widespread expectation that the Bank of Canada (BoC) will keep its policy rate steady at 5.0% for the fifth consecutive time during its upcoming policy meeting on Wednesday. The Canadian Dollar (CAD) has experienced significant depreciation against the US Dollar (USD) since the start of the new year, following a sharp rise from its November lows around 1.3900. This week, USD/CAD has maintained a consolidative theme in the upper end of the range, in line with the rest of the FX universe.

Headline inflation, tracked by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), kept its downtrend in the first month of the year even as the BOC’s Core CPI showed signs of sticky price pressures. In this context, the central bank is predicted to deliver a prudent approach, highlighting the need to assess further incoming data as well as their sustainability before deciding on any move on rates, namely the start of the easing cycle. This last view matches that of most of the bank’s G10 peers (the Federal Reserve, ECB, Bank of England, and Reserve Bank of Australia).