OTTAWA – The Canadian economy’s soft patch continued for the third straight month in October and a modest growth forecast for November will further support investors bet for an interest rate cut in the first quarter of next year, economists said. Latest data released by the Statistics Canada data on Friday showed that the Canadian economy was unchanged in October, while analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a 0.2% month-over-month rise. September’s GDP was downwardly revised to zero growth from an initial report of 0.1% growth. The last big data release in Canada for 2023 paints a picture of an economy stuttering under the impact of the Bank of Canada’s 10 rate hikes between March 2022 and July, which took the benchmark interest rate to a 22-year high of 5%. GDP unexpectedly declined in the third quarter, and the central bank expects growth to remain weak for a few quarters.