Canadian and U.S. economies are converging but danger lurks: Don Pittis

On the face of it, Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz and his deputy Carolyn Wilkins had some excellent news about the Canadian economy in yesterday's Monetary Policy Report.

The happy story included falling mortgage rates, continued employment strength and growing business investment that have pushed Canadian economic growth rates higher in the first half of the year than almost anyone expected.

But as global trade threats linger, Canada's top central bankers warn that many people who should know better, including stock market investors, seem to think cuts to interest rates can solve all problems.

In a complex world riven by trade disputes, they say, there are simply limits to the power of central bankers to patch things up. The warnings, including hints of the possibility of a new bout of stagflation, were effectively a message that rate cuts are no easy answer for the damaging effect of a global trade war...

This was excerpted from the 11 July 2019 edition of CBC News.