Tag: US Fed

News: Interest Rate Updates for Canada, US

RobHLeave a comment

Eight times a year, the Bank of Canada and the US Federal Reserve have meetings to set and announce their key interest rates. In what I’m sure is a total coincidence, they often happen on the same day. Per the Bank of Canada and the US Fed, here are the dates for 2026:

  • Wednesday, January 28
  • Wednesday, March 18
  • Wednesday, April 29
  • Wednesday, June 10 / June 17th for the Fed
  • Wednesday, July 15 / July 28th for the Fed
  • Wednesday, September 2 / September 15th for the Fed
  • Wednesday, October 28
  • Wednesday, December 9

Normally I don’t really pay too much attention to financial headlines. But since interest rates have a direct impact on the monthly income I can expect from the cash holdings in my portfolio (and by “cash” I mean ultra short-term bond funds1), and since I try to keep my HISA and short-term bond table (Canada & US) accurate, I do pay attention to that particular piece of market intel.

So the Bank of Canada leaves their rate unchanged (again), at 2.25%.

And the US Federal reserve also leaves its target range untouched, at 3.5%<->3.75%2 .

I’ll take a look at rates listed on HISA and short-term bond table (Canada & US) to make sure they remain accurate in the coming days. You can always let me know if something looks off. I’m at comments@moneyengineer.ca.

  1. ZMMK in CAD, ICSH in USD, both members of the ETF All-Stars club ↩︎
  2. And here you see why most of my “cash” is in ICSH instead of ZMMK. US interest rates are higher in Canada, and although there is of course foreign exchange risk involved, I’m ok with that. ↩︎

News: Interest rate cut in US, Canada stays the course

RobH1 Comment

The Bank of Canada and the US Federal Reserve both had their last rate setting meeting of 2025 today. These meetings are of interest to the DIY investor because they set the bar for the interest rate paid on short term loans / high interest savings accounts. I track a universe of HISAs and ETFs of interest over at https://moneyengineer.ca/hisa-and-short-term-bond-table-canada-us/.

The Bank of Canada announcement is here, and the US Fed announcement is here. The Bank of Canada kept things the same, with a rate of 2.25% while the US cut their rates by a quarter point, so they’re now sitting in a range of 3.5-3.75%. Anyway, the gap between the US and Canadian rates is narrowing, but the US overnight rates are still 1.5% higher (aka 150 basis points) and so it pays to use USD money market funds and HISAs if you’re able.

The next opportunity for the banks to mess with interest rates is January 28, 2026.

News: Canada and US both lower prime rate

RobH2 Comments

To the surprise of no one, both the Bank of Canada and the US Federal Reserve lowered their headline interest rate by 1/4 of a % (that’s 25 basis points if you want to be fancy about it).

Official statement from BoC sets the policy rate at 2.5%, down from 2.75%.

Official statement from the US Fed lowers the “target range for the federal funds rate by 1/4 of point”, which puts the range between 4.0% and 4.25%1

Anyway, to the DIY investor, this will no doubt lower the rates available by the HISA providers, last captured here. A quick spot check shows no change yet2, but that won’t last, I predict. The rates have now been lowered and I’ve updated the September table accordingly. The next meetings for these orgs happens at the end of October, so this means stability for the next 6 weeks on the interest rate front.

  1. why is it range? I have no idea. ↩︎
  2. insert joke about “banker’s hours” here ↩︎