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Monday’s CPI Could Decide Your Next Mortgage Payment

  Canada lost 68,000 jobs in September. Inflation is sitting at 3%. The Bank of Canada has to decide on October 28 which of those facts matters more, and on Monday morning one more number lands to help it choose. If you carry a variable-rate mortgage, a HELOC or a renewal this winter, that number has a price tag. Two reports pulling in opposite directions The jobs data came first. Statistics Canada reported on October 9 that employment fell by 68,000 in September, pushing the unemployment rate to 6.5% from 6.4%. It followed a drop of about 42,000 in August, which means more than half of the 181,000 jobs gained between April and July have now been wiped out. Ontario shed 20,000 positions on its own. Markets reacted within hours: the odds of a quarter-point Bank of Canada hike on October 28 dropped to roughly 25% from about 40%, according to LSEG data reported by Reuters. Inflation is telling the opposite story. The consumer price index rose 3.0% year over year in August, matching Ju...

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Federal Reserve to Hold Interest Rates Steady Despite Market Anticipation

 

The Federal Reserve is expected to hold on interest rate cuts as they assess the economy and inflation . The policymakers are likely to signal that they expect to wait until they’re confident that inflation, which has tumbled from its peak, is reliably moving to their 2% target. 

The central bank’s benchmark rate influences the cost of most consumer and business loans, and companies, investors, and individuals have been eager for the central bank to ease the cost of borrowing. However, the economy remains healthy and doesn’t appear to need the stimulative benefits of a rate cut, which can spur more borrowing and spending and could even re-ignite inflation. The stock market is near a record high, and the yield on the influential 10-year Treasury note is well below its peak of nearly 5% last fall.

The Federal Reserve will likely move closer Wednesday to cutting its key interest rate after nearly two years of hikes that were intended to fight the worst inflation in decades. Yet it may not provide much of a hint about when — or how fast — it will do so. Most Fed watchers think the central bank’s first rate reduction will occur in May or June.














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