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Stocks stalled as oil fuels inflation nerves

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Asian stockmarkets were becalmed on Wednesday as surges in oil and Chinese factory prices added to worries that a hot U.S. inflation reading could renew pressure on policymakers to lift interest rates.

U.S. crude futures rose 1% to a two-week high of $84.97 a barrel in early trade and Brent futures made a one-week top of $85.35. [O/R]

Factory gate prices in China have soared 13.5% year-on-year to October, data showed, beating forecasts and warning of pressure heading down supply chains to global consumers.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan and Japan’s Nikkei each dropped 0.2% in and Overnight on Wall Street a long rally paused, with the Nasdaq logging its first fall in a dozen sessions. [.N]

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S&P 500 futures fell 0.2% in morning trade.

U.S. data due at 1330 GMT is expected to show consumer prices galloping higher at 5.8% year-on-year and even dovish Federal Reserve officials Neel Kashkari and Mary Daly have conceded it is running hotter for longer than they expected.

“Coming from them, I would imagine that now there is officially little doubt left within the (Fed) that risks around inflation are much more elevated than previously assumed,” NatWest Markets strategists said in a note.

Longer-dated bonds had rallied on Tuesday, flattening the Treasury yield curve, as investors seem to be wagering on hikes in the next year or so squashing growth and inflation in the years beyond. [US/]

“A firm (CPI) read can add a bit more fuel to the flattening,” the NatWest analysts said. “But I would argue that at this stage, a weak CPI number wouldn’t be enough to ease markets into thinking the Fed will hold back.”

Treasuries dipped a bit in Asia hours, lifting the benchmark 10-year yield about 2 basis points to 1.4626% after it had touched a six-week low of 1.4150% overnight.

Currency markets have been fairly quiet but traders favoured safe havens on Tuesday and lifted the yen to a one-month high.

The Japanese currency held there on Wednesday at 112.84 per dollar and risk-sensitive currencies such as the Australian dollar were under pressure, with the Aussie testing support at its 50-day moving average of $0.7374. [FRX/]

“The dollar will be sensitive to moves in the 2-5 year part of the U.S. Treasury curve,” said Chris Weston, head of research at broker Pepperstone in Melbourne.

“I think we’ll need to see a (monthly U.S. CPI) print of 0.8% to see the dollar index break out of the top of the range of 94.50,” he said. The index was last at 93.997.

CLOUDS

China’s economic slowdown is also nagging on investors’ minds, especially as a credit crunch seems to be quickly spreading through the giant property industry.

Bonds in the sector had suffered a fresh pounding on Tuesday, with the sell-off dragging in even investment-grade debts.

“(The) market is now driven more by fear rather than rationale,” said analysts at J.P. Morgan. “Valuations have factored in (the) worst case scenario.”

Other clouds are also brewing, with a survey in Japan showing manufacturers’ business confidence has fallen to a fresh seven-month low and Tesla stock, a bit of a gauge of retail investors’ sentiment, turning wobbly.

The carmaker, which has been the poster-stock of equities’ thumping rally from pandemic lows, suffered its sharpest share price fall in 14 months on Tuesday as traders brace for a possible sale from company chief Elon Musk.

Gold and bitcoin have been the primary beneficiaries of the market turbulence, with gold up 3.5% in a week to $1,829 an ounce and bitcoin hovering at $67,267 after hitting a record peak of $68,564 a day ago.

 

(Reporting by Tom Westbrook; Editing by Michael Perry)

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1 dead, 2 critically injured after car crash in Montreal

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Montreal

Three people are in hospital with critical injuries after their vehicle crashed into a tree. Police believe they might be connected to two drive-by shootings that took place early Thursday morning.

2 drive-by shootings also took place overnight

an SPVM car near a taped-off crime scene
Montreal police are investigating a car crash possibly linked to two drive-by shootings. (Mathieu Wagner/Radio-Canada)

Urgences-santé say one person died and two others were critically injured after their vehicle hit a tree in the Rosemont neighbourhood.

Montreal police believe the crash may be linked to two drive-by shootings early Thursday morning.

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The first happened around 5 a.m. on Pie-IX Boulevard. Police say a car was shot at repeatedly and the driver, a 41-year-old man, was injured in the upper body. He was transported to hospital, but his life is not in danger, say police.

Shortly afterward, shots were reported in the Plateau Mont-Royal borough, near the intersection of Saint-Joseph Boulevard and Henri-Julien Avenue. No one was injured.

Police say they are investigating to determine if there is a connection between the collision and the shootings. Montreal police spokesperson Jean-Pierre Brabant says it’s possible those in the vehicle were involved in the shootings.

The province’s independent police watchdog is now involved.

with files from Chloë Ranaldi

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Pakistan airline crew sought asylum in Canada: spokesperson – CTV News

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Typically, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight attendants who arrive in Toronto stay at a hotel overnight, meet back up with their crew the next day and then fly to their next destination.

But increasingly often, PIA attendants aren’t showing up, the airline says. According to PIA, at least eight flight attendants disappeared over the last year and a half.

They have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.

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Increased occurrences

Abdullah Hafeez Khan said at least eight flight attendants “have gone missing” after flying to Pearson International Airport in Toronto. He said these incidents have been happening over the last 10 years, but are now occurring more frequently.

“Since probably October of 2022, the number of the people that have opted asylum has increased tremendously,” Khan said in a video interview with CTVNews.ca from Karachi, Pakistan, where the airline is based.

“None of those crew members that disappeared in the last one-and-a-half years have come back. So they were granted asylum for one way or the other, and that probably has encouraged others to do so.”

The missing employees were fired immediately and lost their company benefits, Khan said.

Why did they flee?

Khan said he could only speculate as to why the flight attendants would flee.

The Canadian government underscored the volatile situation in Pakistan, warning in a travel advisory of a “high threat of terrorism,” along with threats of civil unrest, sectarian violence and kidnapping.

“The security situation is fragile and unpredictable,” the Canadian travel advisory reads. “Incidents are typically attributed to extremism, ethnic divisions, sectarian strife, regional political disputes and the situation in neighbouring Afghanistan.”

It added that many deaths and injuries have occurred from bombings, shootings and other terrorist attacks at a wide range of targets.

Since Khan isn’t in contact with any of the missing employees, he says, he assumes they decided to seek asylum in Canada for economic and social reasons.

“So I naturally assumed that all of them have been given asylum because I don’t think they would be living there illegally,” he said, adding they may already have family connections in Canada who can support them.

In this June 8, 2013, photo, a Pakistan International Airlines plane moments before take off from the Benazir Bhutto airport in Islamabad, Pakistan. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

‘PR crisis’

Khan called the flight attendants’ disappearances a “PR crisis” for PIA that is “bad” for business amid a crew shortage.

The airline is in talks with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and Pakistani law enforcement agencies to potentially create a “legal safeguard” to curtail flight crew from seeking asylum, he said.

When asked about the PIA flight attendants’ disappearances, Erin Kerbel, spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, said the department couldn’t comment on specific cases due to privacy legislation.

In response to questions about PIA’s claim that discussions are underway about the issue, a spokesperson for the CBSA said it could not confirm any information.

“The Canada Border Services Agency does not provide comment or details on specific individuals, including any discussions that would take place with airline companies, as an individual’s border and immigration information is considered private and protected by the Privacy Act,” Maria Ladouceur said in an email to CTVNews.ca.

Since the crew members’ disappearances, Khan said, the airline has “done numerous things to curtail that.”

For instance, the airline is only staffing Toronto-bound flights with crew members who have “established linkages” in Pakistan, such as children, spouses or parents, as well as those who have worked in the organization for more than 15 years.

The airline avoids sending to Toronto those who are single or don’t have established family ties in Pakistan, he said.

Khan said he and the airline are no longer in contact with the flight attendants because, they discovered, they usually change their phone numbers soon after disappearing in Toronto.

Who disappeared?

The PIA flight attendants who vanished in Canada are seasoned pros in their late 30s or 40s, some of whom have worked for the airline for as long as two decades, Khan said.

“There was never any sign from them that they would seek something like that,” he said. “So that is something that is bothering us in the matter because working with people who have been working with you for a long time and then something happens like this is pretty unexpected.”

In one of the latest cases in February, the crew members were waiting to take the bus back to the airport from the hotel in Toronto and one of the flight attendants didn’t show up, Khan said.

The airline was unable to reach the flight attendant on her cellphone or hotel landline so, Khan says, they asked hotel management to check if she was OK.

“When the crew went there, she left her uniform there with a note saying, ‘Thank you PIA,'” Khan said, which he interpreted as a genuine sentiment of gratitude for her more than 15 years of service with PIA rather than a taunt.

Khan said the crew members who disappeared were “family values people” who had good careers in Pakistan.

Asylum policies

Individuals can make a refugee claim in Canada at a port of entry upon arrival or online if they are already in Canada, according to the Canadian government’s website.

Canadian immigration or border officials will determine if the person is eligible for a hearing before the Immigration and Refugee Board. All claimants must undergo health and security screenings, the government says.

If eligible to make a claim in Canada, refugee claimants can access social assistance, education, health services, emergency housing and legal aid pending a decision on their claim. Most can apply for a work permit after a medical examination.

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Alberta's population surges by record-setting 202,000 people: Here's where they all came from – CBC.ca

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Alberta smashed population-growth records in the past year, mainly due to people moving to the province from across Canada and around the world.

The province’s population surged to just over 4.8 million as of Jan. 1, according to new estimates released Wednesday by Statistics Canada.

That’s an increase of 202,324 residents compared with a year earlier, which marks — by far — the largest annual increase on record.

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Alberta also broke a national record in 2023 for interprovincial migration, with a net gain of 55,107 people.

“This was the largest gain in interprovincial migration nationally since comparable data became available in 1972,” Statistics Canada said in a release.


Most of the interprovincial migrants came from Ontario and British Columbia.

Statistics Canada estimates that 38,236 Ontarians moved to Alberta last year, versus 14,860 Albertans who moved to Ontario, for a net gain of 23,376 people.

Similarly, an estimated 37,650 British Columbians moved to Alberta, compared to 22,400 Albertans who moved to B.C., for a net gain of 15,250.


All told, interprovincial migration accounted for 27 per cent of Alberta’s population growth over the past year.

That put it just ahead of permanent immigration, which accounted for 26 per cent, and well ahead of natural population increase (more births than deaths), which accounted for eight per cent.

The largest component, however, was temporary international migration.

Non-permanent residents from other countries accounted for 39 per cent of the province’s population growth in the past year, reflecting a national trend.


Canada’s population reached 40,769,890 on Jan. 1, according to Statistics Canada estimates, which is up 3.2 per cent from a year ago.

“Most of Canada’s 3.2-per-cent population growth rate stemmed from temporary immigration in 2023,” Statistics Canada noted.

“Without temporary immigration, that is, relying solely on permanent immigration and natural increase (births minus deaths), Canada’s population growth would have been almost three times less (1.2 per cent).”

Alberta’s population, meanwhile, grew by 4.4 per cent year-over-year.

Alberta now represents 11.8 per cent of the country’s population, its largest proportion on record. 

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