Wilkins tried to tell us yesterday
Bank of Canada senior deputy Carolyn Wilkins was grilled on Canadian growth yesterday but refused to give up any ground.
The BOC had been forecasting just 0.3% Q1 growth while the market was looking for 0.7% in today's print, which was +0.4%. Undoubtedly, they had the numbers in hand for Wednesday's BOC decision and yesterday's speech from Wilkins.
She said the BOC thought it was "on track" with forecasts there were upside and downside risks to the BOC 1.2% 2019 forecast.
It wasn't all bad news as y/y GDP rose 1.4% compared to 1.2% and March monthly GDP showed the economy accelerating into Q2 with 0.5% growth.
Still, it's understandable that the Bank of Canada is holding onto a wait-and-see stance. Trump's fresh threat to a NAFTA country isn't helping.
As for the Canadian dollar, it's being taken along for the ride. China also doubled down on warnings to Canada about siding with the US.
"We hope that the Canadian side will come to understand the full consequences of pulling chestnuts from the fire on behalf of the United States, and not inflict more harm on themselves," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters earlier today.
I spoke to Reuters about the loonie yesterday and its impressive ability to hang tough despite the drop in oil. The same is true today.