Transcription:
Conway Gittens: I'm Conway Gittens reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. Here's what we're watching today on TheStreet.
Wall Street struck a cautious tone ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's speech on Friday. Investors want to hear what he has to say about the pace of rate cuts expected to begin in September.
Watch ICYMI this week:
- Leaving your job for a new one is now more difficult
- 7-Eleven's parent company on the verge of a mega-merger
- Boeing's 777X line faces another hurdle as testing halts
- Carl Icahn to pay $2 million to settle SEC charges
In other news… Dark clouds could be gathering on the horizon for the U.S. economy due to a major rail strike north of the border.
All rail operations at Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City have been halted following the collapse of labour negotiations. The two companies have asked some 10,000 unionised workers to stay home.
A spokesperson for Canadian Pacific Kansas City told CNN: “We are right in the peak fall shipping season. There are Christmas gifts in containers arriving at the ports. If this extends into the fall shipping period, the consequences will be worse.”
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, $382 billion in cross-border trade takes place between the two countries, and 14 percent of that amount is carried by rail.
Auto parts are especially vulnerable, as many components cross the border multiple times before the finished car rolls off the assembly line. A disruption in that supply chain could leave American auto factories with no choice but to temporarily shut down operations.
And it's not just new car sales that are at risk, what you put on your plate is at risk too. Those rails also carry fertilizers used in American food production and chlorine used to purify water.
A US company estimates that a one-week shutdown could cause $1 billion in economic damage and pose a major threat to the peak holiday shopping season.
That's it for the daily roundup. From the New York Stock Exchange, I'm TheStreet's Conway Gittens.
Related: Samsung union begins three-day strike over unfair wages
