The price is right

Good morning. Polymarket is opening a bar in Washington called The Situation Room filled with screens showing live odds from the company’s prediction markets, social media feeds, flight-tracking maps, and other data sources perfect for people who love to, as they say, “monitor the situation.”

It’s also a perfect first date spot for anyone who wants to ensure there won’t be a second. 

Today’s reading time is 5½ minutes.

Markets: Oil prices surged after intensified attacks on energy infrastructure in the Middle East. That also dragged down equity markets, along with comments by Fed chair Jerome Powell that tamped down hopes for interest rate cuts.

Algorithms can predict just how much we’ll pay to get a Big Mac delivered at 2 a.m. For at least some Canadians, companies soon won’t be allowed to use that eerily accurate capability to gouge you during your hours of desperation.

What happened: Manitoba’s government has introduced a bill that would ban companies from setting different prices for different customers based on their personal data. Penalties for violations range from $300,000 fines for corporations to potential jail time for individuals. 

Zoom out: Personalized pricing based on everything from internet activity to location to purchase history has become an increasingly common practice, especially for online businesses. One consumer trend analyst told Fortune, “The era of 'fair' pricing is over. The price you see is the price the algorithm thinks you’ll accept.”

Why it matters: Pricing in the age of AI algorithms and data mining has become a black box — we often have no idea what other people are being charged for the same thing as us. This legislation could be a step toward making prices more transparent, and ultimately making it more difficult for companies to surreptitiously overcharge their customers.—LA

Canadian and U.S. central banks held rates steady. The Bank of Canada kept its policy rate at 2.25%, a wait-and-see approach that was widely expected given the combo of a weak labour market, cooling inflation, and the risk that the war in the Middle East will drive up energy prices further. In the U.S., the Federal Reserve also did nothing on rates and offered little guidance about its path forward. Much will hinge on what happens in the Middle East and energy markets. (CTV News)

Israel, Iran target energy infrastructure. Israel attacked Iran’s largest gas field and Iran struck a major liquefied natural gas hub in Qatar, causing extensive damage. The exchange pushed oil prices up and cut off the flow of imported gas to Iraq. Experts fear that escalating attacks on the region’s energy infrastructure could further disrupt global oil and gas supply chains and drive energy prices even higher. (Wall Street Journal)

Pipeline CEO says major projects moving too slowly. François Poirier, the CEO of pipeline operator TC Energy, said the federal government’s efforts to fast-track major projects have not been effective. Poirier urged the feds to accelerate their target for getting major energy projects approved from two years to six months to meet rising energy demand. (Bloomberg)

📡 What else is on our radar: 

For the first time, scientists at the Research and Productivity Council in Fredericton mapped a cell of “multinucleate sphere unknown” (MSX), a disease caused by a parasite that’s deadly to oysters and has already wiped out millions of molluscs in the Maritimes. Researchers spent seven months analyzing 17,000 infected oysters to isolate the cell and sequence the MSX genome.

Why it matters: Oyster harvesters will now be able to use this information to breed oysters that are naturally resistant to the parasite. Good news if you’re in the business of farming, eating, or being an oyster.

If you spend much time on the internet, there’s a good chance you will soon (if you haven’t already) come across someone trying to sell you peptides. 

Driving the news: Enhanced Games, the Peter Thiel-backed company behind a planned “steroid Olympics” that would allow athletes to use performance-enhancing substances, says it will start selling injectable peptides. 

Catch up: If you don’t work in Silicon Valley or do competitive bodybuilding, there’s a good chance you’re unfamiliar with peptides, which are short chains of amino acids that regulate hormones. 

Why it matters: Businesses of varying degrees of shadiness are popping up to serve the growing demand for peptides and other experimental drugs embraced by “biohackers” who have adopted a DIY approach to optimizing their health and fitness. 

Our take: People forking over cash for magical elixirs and potions is nothing new, but peptides have at least a veneer of scientific rigour (and marketing power) behind them that sets them apart from the snake oils of a bygone era. Of course, we aren’t scientists, and have no idea what their effects will be (if any). What’s concerning is that neither do most of the people using them.—TS

🇨🇦 103,504. How much Canada’s population fell by last year, the first recorded annual decline since the country started keeping track in the 1940s. The drop is largely due to an exodus of temporary foreign workers and international students. Last quarter alone, the number of non-permanent residents fell by about 171,000.

Now, time for some games. Here’s today’s mini-crossword, sudoku, Codebreaker, and Who’s Who. Enjoy!