{"id":64838,"date":"2026-07-15T10:38:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T14:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/bank-of-canada-holds-rates-steady-as-new-ai-venture-ode-launches\/64838\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T10:38:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T14:38:15","slug":"bank-of-canada-holds-rates-steady-as-new-ai-venture-ode-launches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/bank-of-canada-holds-rates-steady-as-new-ai-venture-ode-launches\/64838\/","title":{"rendered":"Bank of Canada Holds Rates Steady as New AI Venture &#8220;Ode&#8221; Launches"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The Bank of Canada (BoC) maintained its benchmark interest rate at 2.25%<\/strong> for the sixth consecutive meeting, signaling confidence that current levels are sufficient to return inflation to its <strong>2% target<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Anthropic, Blackstone (<a href=\"\/stock\/BX\">BX<\/a>), and Hellman &amp; Friedman officially launched &quot;Ode with Anthropic,&quot;<\/strong> a $1.5 billion AI-native services firm designed to integrate Claude AI into enterprise operations.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Senate HELP Committee advanced Brett Matsumoto\u2019s nomination<\/strong> for Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) with a narrow <strong>12-11 vote<\/strong>, moving the pick to a full floor vote.<\/li>\n<li><strong>BoC Governor Tiff Macklem highlighted geopolitical risks<\/strong>, specifically citing Middle East conflicts and U.S. trade relationships as the primary threats to Canada\u2019s economic outlook.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Central bank guidance shifted to a neutral stance<\/strong>, as the BoC removed previous references to the potential for &quot;consecutive hikes&quot; or further rate cuts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Bank of Canada Maintains 2.25% Rate Amid Improving Outlook<\/h2>\n<p>The <strong>Bank of Canada<\/strong> held its key policy rate steady at <strong>2.25%<\/strong> on Wednesday, matching widespread analyst expectations. In its latest Monetary Policy Report, the bank noted that while uncertainty remains high, recent indicators point to <strong>continued solid consumer spending<\/strong> and a broadening of economic growth sources. Governor <strong>Tiff Macklem<\/strong> stated that data received since April has increased the Governing Council&#39;s confidence that the economy is successfully navigating a period of &quot;global upheaval.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>The bank&#39;s tone shifted toward a more balanced outlook, notably <strong>dropping references to consecutive interest rate hikes<\/strong>. While near-term inflation expectations remain sensitive to gasoline price fluctuations, Macklem emphasized that <em>longer-term inflation expectations remain well-anchored<\/em>. The BoC now projects Canada&#39;s economy to show signs of steady improvement through the remainder of 2026, despite a &quot;technical recession&quot; earlier in the year.<\/p>\n<h2>Anthropic and Blackstone Launch $1.5B AI Venture &quot;Ode&quot;<\/h2>\n<p>In a major move for the artificial intelligence sector, <strong>Anthropic<\/strong> joined forces with <strong>Blackstone (<a href=\"\/stock\/BX\">BX<\/a>)<\/strong> and <strong>Hellman &amp; Friedman<\/strong> to launch <strong>Ode with Anthropic<\/strong>. The new standalone firm, backed by a <strong>$1.5 billion investment consortium<\/strong>, aims to solve the &quot;implementation gap&quot; for mid-sized and large enterprises looking to scale AI. The consortium also includes heavyweights such as <strong>Goldman Sachs (<a href=\"\/stock\/GS\">GS<\/a>)<\/strong>, <strong>Apollo Global Management (<a href=\"\/stock\/APO\">APO<\/a>)<\/strong>, and <strong>Sequoia Capital<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Ode is built on the foundation of <strong>Fractional AI<\/strong>, an applied services firm acquired in May 2026. Led by CEO <strong>Chris Taylor<\/strong>, the firm will deploy Anthropic\u2019s <strong>Claude<\/strong> models directly into the core business operations of portfolio companies across healthcare, finance, and manufacturing. <em>The venture represents a strategic shift for private equity firms seeking to institutionalize AI capabilities across their vast holdings.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2>Senate Committee Advances BLS Nominee Matsumoto<\/h2>\n<p>The <strong>Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee<\/strong> voted <strong>12-11<\/strong> on Wednesday to advance <strong>Brett Matsumoto<\/strong> as the next Commissioner of the <strong>Bureau of Labor Statistics<\/strong>. The narrow party-line vote follows a contentious nomination process after the previous commissioner was dismissed in 2025. Matsumoto, a career economist, has faced scrutiny regarding the independence of federal data, though he recently testified that he does not believe previous agency data was fabricated.<\/p>\n<p>The nomination now moves to the Senate floor for a final confirmation vote. If confirmed, Matsumoto will lead the agency responsible for critical economic indicators, including the <strong>Consumer Price Index (CPI)<\/strong> and monthly employment reports. <em>Market participants are closely watching the appointment to ensure the continued non-partisan integrity of U.S. economic data.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways The Bank of Canada (BoC) maintained its benchmark interest rate at 2.25% for the sixth consecutive meeting, signaling [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5012],"tags":[20477,3712,4383,4537,4945,7359,7594,7595,7636,12929],"class_list":["post-64838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-help","tag-cpi","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-anthropic","tag-monetary-policy","tag-bank-of-canada","tag-bls","tag-bureau-of-labor-statistics","tag-blackstone-bx-stock-bx","tag-tiff-macklem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}