The Bank of Canada took another big step to rein in emergency levels of stimulus, once again tapering its bond purchases in a sign of optimism about the speed of the recovery.
Policy makers led by Governor Tiff Macklem said Wednesday that they would reduce their weekly purchases of government debt by one-third to C$2 billion ($1.6 billion). Officials held the benchmark overnight interest rate at 0.25%, while indicating they don’t expect any hikes before at least the second half of next year -- in line with previous guidance.
