Two months can seem like an eternity in the fickle world of finance. Two months can see the optimistic foundations, on which future plans were based, crumble, dissolve in a sea of uncertainty and wash away the hope that lingered previously. On Thursday, the Bank of Canada announced it was to keep its overnight rate untouched once again. Talk had turned to “heightened financial uncertainty”, to contracting domestic growth levels and to US levels of growth which would be “weaker than previously anticipated”. A marked difference from the July 19th meeting, which adopted altogether more optimistic tones and foretold of a time in the near future when the monetary policy “will be withdrawn”, sentiments which were conspicuous by their absence at the latest meeting. Continue reading →