| Time | Country | Event | Period | Previous value | Forecast | Actual |
|---|
| 07:55 | Germany | Services PMI | August | 52.5 | 51.4 | 51.2 |
| 08:00 | Eurozone | Services PMI | August | 51.9 | 53.3 | 52.9 |
| 08:30 | United Kingdom | Purchasing Manager Index Services | August | 52.5 | 53.3 | 53.7 |
CAD declined against other major currencies in the European session on Wednesday as investors braced for the announcement of the Bank of Canada’s decision on interest rates later in the day.
The Canadian central bank will announce its latest policy decision at 13:45 GMT. In markets’ view, Canada’s latest economic reports - specifically those that showed the second straight monthly reduction in employment in July (-2,800, following a 1,400 decrease in June), a slowdown in annual pay growth (to 5.2% YoY in July from 5.6% YoY in the previous month) and a deceleration in the annual inflation rates - both headline (to 2.5% YoY in July from 2.7% YoY in June) and core (to 1.7% YoY from 1.9% YoY) - gave the BoC’s policymakers an argument to lower its benchmark policy interest rate by another 25 basis points at their today’s meeting. That would mark the third straight rate cut by the Canadian central bank, bringing the Bank Rate to 4.25%.
Markets will scrutinize the BoC’s policy statements and its governor Tiff Macklem's comments for clues on the future of the rate path.
At the July 24 meeting, the policymakers admitted “signs of slack in the labour market”, “some signs of moderating” in wage growth, and a continuing easing in “broad price pressures”. They also stressed that their future policy decisions “will be guided by incoming information” and “assessment of their implications for the inflation outlook.”
Markets and economists expect two additional 25-basis point rate decreases after today’s move.