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Today’s top stories

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8 a.m.

Elon Musk says he might start charging everyone to use X

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Elon Musk said that a small monthly service fee for using X could help fight off bot operations on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

A subscription for all users would make “the effective cost of bots” very high and would require operators to use a new payment method for each account, the billionaire said in a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Musk’s Tesla Inc. offices in Fremont, Calif. on Monday.

Netanyahu, who questioned Musk about antisemitism and hate speech on the platform, had asked how he could prevent “armies of bots” from amplifying hate speech. X currently has a free tier and subscriptions for individual subscribers and brands, and Musk said bots are the “single most important reason” to shift to monthly payments.

Musk, who’s been in an ongoing conflict with Jewish civil rights group, the Anti-Defamation League, had said that while it was difficult to “police” the 100 million to 200 million posts a day on X in advance, he could take steps to de-amplify hate speech.

Bloomberg

7:45 a.m.

OECD says global economy to slow, Canada included

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Canada will join the world in a slowdown of economic growth, as interest rate increases weigh down activity and China’s pandemic rebound disappoints, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said.

Global growth will ease to 2.7 per cent in 2024 after an already “sub-par” expansion of three per cent this year, according to the latest OECD forecasts.

In Canada, the OECD expects the economy to grow by only 1.2 per cent, a 0.2 percentage point change from its last forecast.

Read the full story from Bloomberg.

7:30 a.m.

Unifor extends Ford negotiations for 24 hours

Unifor and Ford Motor Co. are continuing to negotiate after the union extended a strike deadline by 24 hours.

The union pushed back the deadline that had been set to expire late Monday night after it said it received a “substantive offer” from Ford.

However, the union said its members should continue to maintain strike readiness.

Unifor is negotiating with Ford in hopes of reaching a pattern agreement that serves as the basis for contracts at General Motors and Stellantis.

Ford said it will continue to work collaboratively with the union to create a blueprint for the automotive industry that supports a vibrant and sustainable future in Canada.

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Unifor has said it is focused on increasing wages, improving pensions, and securing good jobs in a future set to be dominated by electric vehicles.

The Canadian Press

Stock markets: Before the open

Global shares were mixed in cautious trading Tuesday ahead of the United States Federal Reserve’s upcoming decision on interest rates.

France’s CAC 40 added 0.2 per cent to 7,292.91 in early trading. Germany’s DAX fell nearly 0.1 per cent to 15,716.61. Britain’s FTSE 100 was little changed, rising less than 0.1 per cent to 7,659.91. The futures for the Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 were up less than 0.1 per cent.

On Monday, the S&P/TSX composite index closed down 129.51 points at 20,492.83. U.S. markets eked out small gains.

Shopify Inc. was a major drag on Canadian markets, helping explain why the TSX posted a worse day than U.S. markets. The tech company’s stock closed down more than five per cent.

The Associated Press, with additional reporting from The Canadian Press

What to watch today

Statistics Canada will release its consumer price index at 8:30 a.m. Economists are forecasting that inflation reaccelerated to around four per cent in August, reversing previous progress made as gasoline prices have gone higher.

Bank of Canada deputy governor Sharon Kozicki will speak at the University of Regina later this afternoon at 2 p.m. Kozicki will speak about how household differences have affected monetary policy since the COVID-19 pandemic. Follow along on the webcast here.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) will release its interim economic outlook report on the global economy.

Additional reporting by The Canadian Press, Associated Press and Bloomberg

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