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The Fed Decides Wednesday — Here's What It Means for Your Mortgage, the Loonie, and Your RRSP

  Monday, July 27, 2026 The U.S. Federal Reserve hands down its rate decision at 2 p.m. ET on July 29. For most Canadians it will feel like background noise. It isn't — here's the plain-language version of why it touches your mortgage, your cross-border spending, and whatever's sitting in your RRSP. The short version: Markets are pricing roughly a two-in-three chance the Fed holds its rate at 3.50%–3.75% on Wednesday. That's not the story. The story is that this is one of the least certain "sure thing" holds in years — and Chair Kevin Warsh's press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET could matter more than the decision itself. Why this meeting is different The Fed has held its benchmark rate steady at 3.50%–3.75% through every meeting so far in 2026. On paper, Wednesday should be more of the same. Under the hood, it's messier. Persistent inflation, running well above the Fed's 2% target for a fifth straight year, has kept a rate hike on the table. The oil-...

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Global Outage Sends Markets Tumbling: S&P/TSX and U.S. Indices Drop


The S&P/TSX composite index closed lower on Friday, reflecting a broader downturn in global markets. The index fell by 36.37 points to settle at 22,690.39. This decline was part of a larger trend, as U.S. markets also experienced significant losses.

The downturn was largely attributed to a global outage caused by a faulty software update from CrowdStrike, which affected numerous companies and organizations worldwide. In the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 377.49 points to 40,287.53, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite indices fell by 39.59 points and 144.28 points, respectively.

The Canadian dollar also saw a slight decrease, trading at 72.85 cents U.S., down from 73.01 cents U.S. on Thursday. Commodity markets were not spared, with crude oil prices dropping by $2.66 to $78.64 per barrel, and gold prices falling by $57.30 to $2,399.10 an ounce.

This market reaction underscores the interconnected nature of global financial systems and the widespread impact that technological disruptions can have on economic stability.


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