✂️ Will The Fed Cut Rates This Year?

Good morning. US stock futures inched higher in Wednesday morning trading as Wall Street braces for the release of key inflation data.

✂️ Fed exec: At least one rate cut in 2024

📝 Our report: Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic is doing the rate-cut prediction dance, saying he expects the Fed to make at least one snip in 2024. Bostic added he would not rule out the possibility of two cuts, but noted that such a move was contingent on the direction of the US economy and inflation

 🔑 Key points:

• "At this point, I think it's one. But as months pass, I may move to two or I might move to zero and we'll just have to see where the chips fall," Bostic, a voting member of the Fed's interest-rate setting committee, said in an exclusive interview on Yahoo Finance.

• One or two rate cuts in 2024 now seem to be more possible to traders than the median of three estimated by Fed officials at their last meeting in March.

• The new comments from Bostic come as investors become increasingly concerned that hot economic data and mixed commentary from some Fed officials could cause the central bank to scale back the number of interest rate cuts this year.

💡 So what: A US Federal Reserve interest rate cut in 2024 could stimulate borrowing and spending, potentially boosting economic growth. However, it may also raise concerns about inflation and impact savers by reducing returns on savings. The implications depend on factors like economic conditions and inflationary pressures.

Wednesday - Consumer Price Index, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee Speaks, Minutes of Fed's March FOMC Meeting

Thursday - Boston Fed President Susan Collins Speaks

Friday - Consumer Sentiment

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🏗️ Global steel demand expected to rise in 2024

WHAT: Looks like steel is set to become the unsung hero of 2024, with global demand predicted to soar by 1.7% to a whopping 1.793 billion metric tons, according to the World Steel Association's latest report. The association said it expects India to be the main driver of demand growth as Chinese demand continues to decline.

WHY: After two years of decline and severe post-pandemic market volatility, there are signs of global steel demand "settling in a growth trajectory in 2024 and 2025", the industry group's statement said.

⚡ US power consumption to set record highs this year

WHAT: US power usage is about to surge! The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) just flipped the switch on its latest Short Term Energy Outlook (STEO), forecasting record highs in power consumption for both 2024 and 2025. EIA projected power demand will rise to 4,096 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2024 and 4,125 billion kWh in 2025.That compares with 4,000 billion kWh in 2023 and a record 4,067 billion kWh in 2022.

WHY: As homes and businesses use more electricity instead of fossil fuels for heat and transportation, EIA forecast 2024 power sales would rise to 1,506 billion kWh for residential consumers, 1,389 billion kWh for commercial customers and 1,047 billion kWh for industrial customers. That compares with all-time highs of 1,509 billion kWh for residential consumers in 2022, 1,391 billion kWh in 2022 for commercial customers and 1,064 billion kWh in 2000 for industrial customers.

🦾 Tech giant unveils new AI chip

WHAT: Google has unleashed the specs of its latest data center artificial intelligence chips and dropped the bombshell of an Arm-based central processor into the tech arena. Google's tensor processing units (TPUs) are one of the few viable alternatives to the advanced AI chips made by Nvidia, though developers can only access them through Google's Cloud Platform and not buy them directly.

WHY: Google plans to offer the Arm-based central processing unit (CPU) called Axion via Google Cloud. The company said it has superior performance to x86 chips, and general-purpose Arm chips in the cloud.

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