Bonds & Stocks
Stocks treaded water as markets saw muted moves across most asset classes, with traders taking risky bets off the table ahead of Wednesday’s Federal Reserve interest-rate decision. With equities near record highs, the mood reflected uncertainty over how the Fed would frame the path for rates, as a quarter-point cut at this meeting and three more by April were already priced in.
Economy
Housing starts in the US fell last month to the lowest since May, as bloated home inventory slowed builders’ appetites to boost production. New residential construction decreased 8.5% last month to an annualized rate of 1.31 million homes, government data released Wednesday showed. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economist was for 1.37 million starts.
World
The Bank of Canada is likely to resume cutting interest rates on Wednesday amid mounting evidence US tariffs are damaging the economy and labor market. Markets and economists expect policymakers led by Governor Tiff Macklem to cut the benchmark overnight rate 25 basis points to 2.5%, restarting monetary easing after holding borrowing costs steady for three consecutive meetings.