Here are the most important news items that investors need to start their trading day:
1. Will the Fed stay put?
The consumer price index had its say. Now it's the Federal Reserve's turn. On Wednesday, the central bank's policy-setting board is set to announce its next rate decision. Just about everyone expects Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and crew to keep its benchmark rate steady, especially after Tuesday's CPI report showed inflation slowing down to a 4% year-over-year pace. That's still higher than the Fed's 2% target, but after more than a year of rate hikes, the market is ready for a pause. Follow live market updates.
2. AMD challenges Nvidia
AMD isn't content letting Nvidia have all the fun during the AI boom in tech. AMD said Tuesday it would start shipping its MI300X GPU chip to some of its customers later this year. GPUs are used by companies such as OpenAI to develop artificial intelligence programs. AMD CEO Lisa Su told investors that artificial intelligence is the "largest and most strategic long-term growth opportunity." AMD has a lot of ground to make up, however. Nvidia dominates the AI chip environment with a market share of more than 80%, as CNBC's Kif Leswing notes.
3. Backlash at Google
Google's new push to get employees to return to the office isn't making many fans. Last week, the tech giant updated its hybrid work policy to start tracking workers' badges and factoring attendance into performance reviews. It also said it may reevaluate whether workers granted remote work approval will keep that status. Google employees say the rule changes make them feel like they're back in school all over again. "If you cannot attend the office today, your parents should submit an absence request," reads one top-rated meme posted to an internal company site called Memegen.
4. Twilight for oil?
Expect global oil demand to peak this decade as the world more rapidly adopts electric vehicles and other technologies, the International Energy Agency said. "The shift to a clean energy economy is picking up pace, with a peak in global oil demand in sight before the end of this decade as electric vehicles, energy efficiency and other technologies advance," said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol. In a report issued Wednesday, the IEA said annual demand growth will slow dramatically from 2.4 million barrels per day this year to 400,000 barrels a day in 2028. China's demand, which was pent up due to Covid shutdowns, will slow down more quickly, the agency projected. The nation, one of the two most populous on Earth, alongside India, is experiencing a rapid expansion of its EV market.
5. Trump in court
Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday pleaded not guilty in a Miami federal court to 37 criminal counts stemming from the special counsel's probe into his alleged mishandling of secret government documents. The frontrunner for the GOP nomination next year quickly seized the moment and turned it into a campaign opportunity, meeting supporters afterward at a famous restaurant in Miami's Little Havana area. By the end of the night, Trump, in a campaign rally-style speech, was ripping special counsel Jack Smith and other perceived enemies before a cheering crowd of supporters and donors at his New Jersey golf club. He also vowed, if elected next year, to sic a special prosecutor on President Joe Biden, even as he claims to be himself a victim of a "weaponized" Justice Department. Get caught up on all the details of history-making day.
And one more thing ...
Rest in peace, Cormac McCarthy. The Pultizer Prize-winning author of "No Country for Old Men" died this week at the age of 89. McCarthy started publishing novels in the mid-1960s, specializing in tales from the dark side of Americana. His earlier work pulsated with ornate, poetic sentences, reminding readers of William Faulkner and Herman Melville. No other book of McCarthy's represented that style better than 1985's "Blood Meridian," a violent, biblical Western often hailed as one of the greatest works of American fiction. McCarthy used a starker, leaner, but no less devastating style in his later work – including 1992's "All the Pretty Horses," which was his commercial breakthrough, and 2006's chilling, Oprah-approved post-apocalyptic novel "The Road." (Famously reticent to give interviews, he still granted one to the superstar talk show host.) McCarthy's death came just months after he published his last two novels, the sweeping companion pieces "The Passenger" and "Stella Maris," which touch on themes including love, mortality, mathematics, money, the Manhattan Project and New Orleans cuisine.
– CNBC's Alex Harring, Kif Leswing, Jennifer Elias, Ruxandra Iordache, Sam Meredith, Kevin Breuninger and Christina Wilkie contributed to this report.
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