Canada first to hike rates in the G7

The Bank of Canada raised its key overnight rate by 0.25% today, to 0.50%, making Canada the first G7 country to see a rate hike. However, the tone of the accompanying statement suggests that this is not necessarily the first step on a long march towards a normalisation of interest rates. Nor are other G7 central banks likely to follow any time soon - the fundamentals in Canada are very different from those elsewhere, notably the US.