Last updated on November 6, 2017
The U.S. Federal Reserve left its policy rate unchanged last week, as was widely expected, but it also surprised markets by adopting a far more dovish tone about the U.S. economy’s prospects. How quickly circumstances can change. When the Fed raised its policy rate in December, its rate-setting committee had predicted that there would be four more rate hikes in 2016. Now, just a month later, the Fed sounds much more cautious and U.S. fourth-quarter GDP growth just clocked in at a paltry 0.7%. Investors are now betting that the next Fed rate hike won’t be until February 2017 (according to CME Group 30-Day Fed Fund futures prices). The U.S. Fed’s policy statements matter to Canadian mortgage borrowers because our economies are deeply interlinked. That means that while […]