Eager to try out CRA’s long-promised income verification tool for mortgage applications?

Well, you can stop refreshing your browser on CRA’s website. Not even the blueprint for this mythical system yet exists — and at this point, some in the industry suspect it’s been permanently parked in “let's do more studies” mode, right beside perennially detoured projects like high-speed rail and pipelines.

We asked the Finance Department and CRA whether they still plan to deliver this fraud-fighting, lender-efficiency miracle. Here’s what they came back with...minus the miracle.

American inflation came in a touch lower than markets expected, partly because shelter costs took a breather. That gives the Federal Reserve a clear runway for at least one, maybe two, rate cuts this year—before someone reminds them that inflation is supposed to have a 2-handle.

Here's the CPI scoreboard for September:

• Headline (y/y): 3.0% (est. 3.1% | prior 2.9%)
• Headline (m/m): 0.3% (est. 0.4% | prior 0.4%)
• Core (y/y): 3.0% (est. 3.1% | prior 3.1%)
• Core (m/m): 0.2% (est. 0.3% | prior 0.3%)

While investors braced in suspense for Friday’s U.S. inflation numbers, Trump was busy lighting up the headlines on Thursday. Not only did he impose sanctions on Russia and finally set a meeting with China's Xi, but he also cut off all trade negotiations with Canada.

That's right. Apparently, Trump didn't like a trade ad that Ontario was running in the U.S. (full story). Hopefully, Carney can blame the idea on a marketing intern or something.

It's the second time since June that Trump has called off trade talks with Canada over social media. Yields fell modestly in after-hours trading, given this new threat to Canadian growth.

Canadian yields barely budged yesterday, despite Tuesday's too-hot-to-trot inflation surprise. The more interesting tale is what we heard after the bell from Mark Carney.

Canadian inflation popped its head above 2% for the first time in half a year—2.4%, to be precise. But that wasn't the number that mattered. It was the annualized average core reading that weighed on the market’s rate-cut enthusiasm.

The highlight of Monday’s economic theatre was the Bank of Canada’s expectations surveys, which could have been better (more on that below).

Meanwhile, down in Washington, Federal Reserve officials are still wandering the policy wilderness without a data compass, thanks to day twenty of the government shutdown.

Monday's highly anticipated Bank of Canada inflation surveys came with two revelations:

1. Businesses have quietly surrendered pricing power to weak demand, despite relentless input costs. (Rate friendly)
2. Consumers are still bracing for tariff-fuelled price hikes. (Rate unfriendly)

Here’s a look at the reports' surprises and how they could ripple through to mortgage rates.