Don't take this to the bank just yet, but Stephen Poloz may well raise interest rates again as early as next week.
Indeed, economists believe the last piece of the puzzle for the Bank of Canada governor and his colleagues will be Monday's release of their business outlook survey.
The odds of a rate hike are already rising after Friday's exceptionally strong labour report from Statistics Canada, which showed 79,000 jobs created in December and unemployment easing to a decades-low of 5.7 per cent.
Consider how fast the Canadian dollar climbed in the wake of that report as markets bet on the central bank raising its benchmark overnight rate from 1 per cent, where it now stands after two hikes and then a pause last year.
Should Monday's outlook show strong optimism among Canadian businesses, the writing may then be on the wall for a Jan. 17 rate hike of one-quarter of a percentage point.
"A very weak report would probably be needed to dissuade a January move," said Toronto-Dominion Bank economist Rishi Sondhi.
"We do not view this as a likely outcome given a healthy labour market, rising inflation and a solid economic backdrop during the survey period. As such, we look for the bank to take rates higher on Jan. 17. That would certainly be an interesting way to ring in the New Year."
He's not alone among analysts, some of whom forecast Mr. Poloz, senior deputy governor Carolyn Wilkins and their peers could raise their benchmark up to three times this year, starting with next week.
Bank of Canada senior deputy governor Carolyn Wilkins and governor Stephen Poloz
Globe and Mail Update
"The final, deciding factor for the bank could be Monday's business outlook survey, though it is hard to see how the report could paint a downbeat picture based on current hiring trends and capital goods purchases," said Mark Chandler, head of Canadian rates strategy at RBC Dominion Securities.
"Beyond the direct questions on future hiring and capital spending plans, we will be looking at the output gap proxies in the survey - specifically, firms' ability to meet unexpected demand and the breadth/intensity of labour market shortages," he added.
"Assuming the responses (and full interviews, inflation expectations) are consistent with recent labour market data - i.e. showing little existing slack - the bank should choose to hike rates on Jan. 17."
This survey ran from mid-November to early December and, thus, cautioned Bank of Montreal senior economist Robert Kavcic, it comes with caveats.
"While consumer confidence was surging late in 2017, business confidence was potentially held back by derailing NAFTA talks and looming minimum wage increases in a few provinces," Mr. Kavcic said, referring to the strong divisions in negotiations to remake the North American free-trade agreement.
Nonetheless, major factors for the central bank include wage growth and inflation, along with economic capacity, and the business outlook survey will shed light on these.
"On the former, the incidence of labour shortages was steady in Q3 at historically normal levels, but the intensity of those shortages, where they do exist, rose to the highest since 2006," Mr. Kavcic said.
"If that pressure becomes more widespread, the bank will read it as a hawkish cue on top of two blowout job reports to end the year," he added.
"On the latter, stronger [machinery and equipment] investment is potentially adding to economic capacity, and therefore holding off capacity pressures. That said, the increase in reported capacity pressure edged up again in Q3, and if it continues to rise, flagging inflation-inducing capacity utilization rates (Q3 was the highest since 2007), that would provide another hawkish reading."
Thus, Mr. Poloz could indeed move next week if these readings are strong.
The question would then turn to what comes next.
"Watch for colour commentary on what companies are assuming on NAFTA and its risks to capital spending plans, an issue that could see the Bank of Canada pause for longer than the market expects after a January hike," said CIBC chief economist Avery Shenfeld.