Bank of Montreal and RBC Join Bank of Canada Rate-Cut Call

Bank of Montreal’s Doug Porter and Royal Bank of Canada’s Mark Chandler joined a growing list of economists calling for Canada’s central bank to cut interest rates next week on signs of a faltering recovery.

Porter and Chandler predicted Wednesday the Bank of Canada will reduce its overnight rate to 0.5 percent at the next decision July 15. They changed their predictions after a report Tuesday showed a drop in non-energy exports pushed Canada’s trade deficit to the second-largest on record.