The Bank of Canada held rates steady for the 6th straight time today and the biggest concern is trade conflicts.
Their release says “Escalation of trade conflicts remains the biggest downside risk to the global and Canadian outlooks”. Followed by “central banks in the US and Europe have signalled their readiness to provide more accommodative monetary policy and further policy stimulus has been implemented in China”
The USA is rumoured to reduce interest rates so does that mean Canada will too?
Right now the BOC says “the degree of accommodation being provided by the current policy interest rate remains appropriate” meaning they have no plans to raise or decrease rates. However with the US reducing there’s … it’s safe to say that there is more downward pressure on rates at this point then up.
So no change in variable rates on mortgages and lines of credits. Fixed rates have continued to decrease since the beginning of 2019 with many specials around or below 3%.
To read the official Bank of Canada press release click here: Bank of Canada maintains overnight rate target at 1 ¾ percent
The next scheduled overnight rate announcement is September 4 2019.