The National Post reports in its Monday edition that the Bank of Canada is getting closer to cutting interest rates, but there are limits to how far and how fast it can move without getting a clearer sign from the Federal Reserve. A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post reports that Governor Tiff Macklem said last he is mulling when to cut the bank's benchmark overnight rate from 5 per cent. He kept the door open to easing as early as June. With core inflation slowing, markets have put the odds of a cut at the next meeting at about two-thirds. A cut in July is fully priced. In the United States, the path for easing rates appears less certain. Traders expect just one or two cuts from the Fed this year, a sharp change from the start of this year, when they were looking for five or six. Some Fed officials believe it is possible there will be no cuts at all in 2024, given stronger-than-expected growth and sticky inflation. That is raising questions about how deeply the BOC can lower rates this year, and whether policy-makers will eventually be forced to pause and wait out the Federal Reserve. The larger the gap between the two countries' policy interest rates, the greater the potential for downward pressure on the Canadian dollar.