BoC rate hike unlikely soon...

Things are definitely looking up for the Canadian economy, but don’t bank on interest rates rising anytime soon.

With Europe’s credit mess spilling over and the faltering U.S. recovery eliciting serious talk about QE3, it’s pretty much unanimous the Bank of Canada will stand pat when setting its policy direction next Tuesday and may not budge until later this year or next year.

“The arguments are there for the Bank of Canada to start hiking rates next week, but we increasingly think that this fall might even be too early given the problems we are seeing in the global economy,” said Jimmie Jean, an economic strategist at Desjardins Capital Markets based in Montreal.

Despite encouraging news over the past week, including solid housing and jobs numbers and improving business sentiment that suggest Canada is bucking the global slowdown, not one of 37 economists and strategists recently surveyed by Reuters expects the Bank of Canada to hike rates July 19.

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