Uh-oh. More good news that may be bad for your economic health

At first glance, the reappearance of "sold over asking" real estate signs may seem like an encouraging signal for the Canadian economy, especially for highly invested homeowners who have watched prices fall from last year's highs.

But a growing number of economists worry that a series of recent indicators, the latest being Wednesday's rise in Canadian retail sales, may instead be a red flag for central bankers, goading them into more rate hikes that could ultimately make many Canadians feel miserable.

With each new smidgen of optimistic data, money market traders point to a rising chance that central bankers will raise rates again. A growing number of Canadian bank economists agree there will be another rise in interest rates when the Bank of Canada's Tiff Macklem announces his rate decision on July 12.

"We expect that there is a 25-basis-point hike baked in for July," said RBC economist Carrie Freestone on Wednesday, using economist-speak for a quarter percentage point, shortly after the retail figures came out.

That will mean more pain for short-term and floating-rate borrowers, whose interest costs rise with the Bank of Canada overnight rate.

Borrowers looking for longer-term fixed-rate loans are more directly affected by the Federal Reserve, the U.S. central bank that paused last week after 10 consecutive rate increases while warning that two more quarter-point rises are likely before the year is out.

Fed chair Jerome Powell reiterated that warning in front of a hostile U.S. congressional committee on Wednesday.

"Inflation pressures continue to run high and the process of getting inflation back down to two per cent has a long way to go," Powell testified to the House Financial Services Committee.

The fact is very few people, including members of Congress, like rising interest rates. Stock prices, which have recently been on the upswing, slumped after Powell spoke.

The continued surge in the price of everything, long after prices were supposed to be contained by rising interest rates, is not just a U.S. and Canadian phenomenon. As the Wall Street Journal reported this week, "inflation around the world just won't go away."

Policymakers worry that the effect of rate hikes are ebbing, the Journal reported. A decline in house prices seems to have stopped and unemployment has begun to fall again.

"Canada, Sweden, Japan and the U.K. skirted recessions after growth unexpectedly rebounded," said the Wall Street Journal report. "Business surveys suggest a relatively buoyant outlook."

In the U.S., there have been many reports that a persistently rising stock market is making the Federal Reserve nervous. In the Journal's words, a rising market was telling Powell, "You haven't done enough."

BMO's chief economist, Doug Porter, echoed that point in a recent market overview.