Article content continued

In the final quarter of 2015, the economy rose by 0.8 per cent and the Bank of Canada is forecasting a 2.8-per-cent advance in the first three months of this year — slightly below private-sector predictions.

“February’s performance is an emphatic exclamation point that the Q1 growth spike is not sustainable,” Reitzes said.



In a week dotted with fiscal and monetary events, the U.S. economy will draw a lot of attention as well, with analysts forecasting a slowdown in first-quarter growth to one per cent — down from a rate of 1.4 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2015.

The U.S. Federal Reserve began raising its key lending level at the end of 2015 — taking it to a range of 0.25 to 0.50 per cent — but policymakers appear to have slowed their rate of planned rate of increases this year from four to probably just two moves.

The Fed is not expected to provide markets with any new fodder coming out of its Wednesday meeting, given there will be no updated forecasts and no news conference by Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen.

“Nevertheless, we are looking for the statement ‘global economic and financial developments continue to pose risks’ to remain largely intact and a mark to market of the economic assessment, which includes continued strength in the labour market,” noted economists at RBC Capital Markets.

In a week dotted with fiscal and monetary events, the U.S. economy will draw a lot of attention as well

BMO economist Sal Guatieri said the Fed statement will be notable, “not because there is even a remote chance of a policy change, but for possible hints of a move at the next meeting.”