Bank of Canada surprises market with no rate cut

The Bank of Canada’s decision to hold its key policy rate at 0.50% today doesn’t mean that further rate cuts are off the table entirely. The Bank sounded far more downbeat about the economic outlook because of the worsening commodity price shock. But since the details of the upcoming Federal fiscal stimulus plan are unknown, it doesn’t think there is any harm in waiting to see how everything plays out before lowering rates further.