News: Canadian and US Interest Rates hold steady

Both the Bank of Canada and the US Federal Reserve held their main interest rates steady: 2.25% for the Bank of Canada, and between at 3.50% and 3.75% for the US Fed.

This sort of announcement is of interest to investors in such things as HISAs and ultra short term bonds, which tend to track these rates pretty closely. The HISA and short-term bond table (Canada & US) has been updated with this new data.

My current cash strategy (5% of my retirement portfolio, see here for the most recent details) remains heavily weighted to the US side of the ledger since the interest rates are currently better there.

The next chance to see a change in rates will be a month: April 29, 2026 for both entities.

News: Interest Rate Updates for Canada, US

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. ↩︎