Poloz blames weather, USD/CAD jumps.
Other headlines from Poloz in Halifax:
- Growth still likely to approach 2.5% over next couple of years
- Inflation seems to be running at 2.5%, give or take a tenth or two
- The possibility of longer-term stagnation globally needs to be taken seriously
- Canada’s long term growth would be higher than 2% if not for poor demographics
- Sees US post-crisis hangover dissipating, momentum building, will lead to Canadian exports and investment
- Most analysts expect softer Feb inflation, partly due to base effects
- Full speech
There isn’t anything that could be applied to rates here. He’s saying the BOC will look past soft near-term growth and inflation numbers but the warnings that those numbers will be soft are a reminder of the risk of holding CAD.
USD/CAD is at a session high at 1.1085. The loonie is getting cleaned out on the commodity FX crosses today as well.
