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  • Business
    Reuters

    Canada's long-delayed Trans Mountain oil pipeline set to start operations

    After 12 years and C$34 billion ($24.7 billion), Canada's Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project (TMX) is set to start shipping oil on Wednesday, a major milestone expected to transform access to global markets for the country's producers. Pipeline constraints have forced Canadian oil producers to sell oil at a discount for many years, but TMX will nearly triple the flow of crude from landlocked Alberta to Canada's Pacific coast to 890,000 barrels per day. For Canada, the world's fourth-biggest oil producer, the additional pipeline capacity is set to boost crude prices, lift national gross domestic product and open up access to Asian oil markets.

  • Business
    Reuters

    Futures fall as chip stocks drag, Fed rate decision awaited

    Advanced Micro Devices shed 6.3% in premarket trading after its forecast for AI chip sales failed to impress investors, while Super Micro Computer lost 9.1% as the artificial intelligence server maker reported third-quarter revenue below estimates. Investors will now await a slew of economic data during the day to further gauge the state of inflation in the U.S. economy, before tuning in to the Fed's interest rate decision at the end of its two-day meeting. "Although we still expect rate cuts to remain on the agenda for later in the year, disinflation has stalled in the U.S., where it hasn't in many places overseas."

  • Business
    Reuters

    Morning Bid: Mayday for bonds as 2024 Fed cut hopes dwindle

    May Day for Wall Street comes with the daunting prospect that the multiple interest rate cuts once expected from the Federal Reserve this year might now just be just one - if any. Facing another $1.1 trillion in new Treasury debt sales over the coming two quarters, Tuesday's jarring news that U.S. employment cost growth accelerated during the first three months of the year was the latest blow to bond markets already struggling with a hawkish Fed. With Wednesday's Fed decision unlikely to offer much encouragement on rates, futures markets have reduced 2024 easing expectations to just 27 basis points (bps).

  • Business
    Reuters

    More Fed officials ready to say goodbye to low-rate world

    A growing number of Federal Reserve officials don't see a return to the ultra-low interest rates that prevailed before the COVID-19 pandemic due to everything from ballooning federal deficits to demand for investments in green energy, artificial intelligence and domestic manufacturing. The U.S. economy has held up remarkably well in the face of the stiffest rate hikes in a generation, with unemployment low and growth - until recently - mostly above trend. Meanwhile progress on returning inflation to the Fed's 2% target has stalled out this year after rapid gains last year, leading some to wonder whether something has changed that could require a generally higher level of interest rates to keep price increases in check.