Article from Business News Network
The Bank of Canada's next interest-rate move is still expected to be a hike, but forecasters have pushed back their target for a tightening to the third quarter of 2015, a Reuters poll found on Thursday.
None of the 30 economists in the poll expected an interest rate move at the central bank's meeting on March 5.
The median forecast in the poll showed the Bank of Canada is expected to hike its main policy rate by 25 basis points to 1.25 percent at some point between July and September next year, three months later than predicted in a January poll.
Last October, the central bank abandoned its 18-month warning that the interest rate could one day rise, citing concerns about a soft economy and persistently weak inflation, which has remained below the 2 percent target for nearly two years.
As a result overnight index swaps, which move based on expectations for the central bank's policy rate, have shown traders placing small bets on an interest rate cut.
