Friday, April 23, 2010

Bank of Canada caught on the Horns of it's own making

Just a quick post.

Retails sales came in weaker than expected, especially once you back out the car sales. The pre-Olympic boost has dropped.

Inflation has come in at a pretty tame 1.4% (though only by manipulating the numbers since housing is on fire and is the highest family expenditure).

So what is the Bank of Canada to do?

it's last statement made it clear that rate rises were just around the corner. It has already stated that Canadians are taking on too much debt and housing is over-heated.

So does it leave rates at zero and keep inflating the debt bubbles, until they burst like the US, losing all credibility.

Or does it raise in the face of weak data.

They should not have got themselves into this space in the first place. Zero rates = speculation and debt. You reap what you sow...