On Wednesday the Bank of Canada reduced its target for the overnight rate to 3¼%, with the Bank Rate at 3½% and the deposit rate at 3¼%. 

The Bank is continuing its policy of balance sheet normalization.

In the third quarter, the Canadian economy grew by one percent, somewhat below the Bank’s October projection, and the fourth quarter also looks weaker than projected. 

The unemployment rate rose to 6.8 percent in November as employment continued to grow more slowly than the labour force.