BULLET: CANADA BOC: Maintains overnight rate target at 1.75%.>

CANADA BOC: Maintains overnight rate target at 1.75%

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- BOC drops "appropriate" for maintaining interest rate.

- Growth will be weaker and output gap will be wider than BOC October 

projection. 

- Estimation of 2019 4Q growth revised from 1.3% to 0.3%.

- Signals of increased consumer caution, may also alleviate financial 

vulnerabilities. 

- Exports fell, business investment weakened, job creation slowed, and 

consumer spending have been unexpectedly soft in late 2019 and may 

spill into 1Q 2020, BOC said. 

- Strikes, poor weather, and inventory adjustement contribute the most 

to the slowdowns; could be signals for global economic conditions 

affecting Canadian economy. 

- BOC will watch if recent slowdown in growth is persistent.

- Inflation will hold near 2% target, inflation risks roughly balanced.