Canadian Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon has rejected a request by Canadian National Railway to initiate binding arbitration in a labor dispute with the Teamsters union, a spokesman for the minister said on Thursday. In a letter to CN Rail's lawyers, MacKinnon said it was the shared responsibility of the company and the union to negotiate in good faith. The letter, sent on Wednesday, was released by the Teamsters. Talks between CN Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City - the country's two largest rail companies - and the Teamsters are deadlocked, with each side blaming the other. CN Rail said it was disappointed by MacKinnon's decision, saying he would have to reconsider if the union did not "get serious and engage meaningfully at the negotiating table".

American Dollar to Canadian Dollar = 0.801207; American Dollar to Chinese Yuan = 0.151787; American Dollar to Euro = 1.181003; American Dollar to Japanese Yen = 0.008910; American Dollar to Mexican Peso = 0.052739.

“It does appear the only way is up for oil,” said Michael McCarthy, a chief strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney. “A lot of traders are speculating about the potential outcome of the OPEC meeting. Expectations are high and that could lead to disappointment if OPEC and its partners don’t deliver, but it doesn’t seem many are prepared to take the risk of that happening.” U.S. crude stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for WTI and the biggest oil-storage hub, dropped by 1.8 million barrels last week, the API said, according to people familiar with the data. Gasoline inventories expanded by 869,000 barrels, API data show. Click Read More below for additional information.