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Statistics Canada will reveal the early impacts of the Iran war’s oil price shock on inflation when the agency reports its consumer price index for March on Monday. The price of oil has surged in recent weeks after Iran responded to attacks by the United States and Israel by shuttering the Strait of Hormuz where a fifth of the world’s fuel normally transits. RBC senior economist Claire Fan says the bank expects rising prices at the pumps will push the headline inflation rate to 2.5 per cent in March, up from 1.8 per cent in February. She says that jump would be even higher, but the removal last year of the consumer carbon price is still taking some steam out of the annual inflation comparisons.
Uber has reached an agreement to acquire an additional 4.5 per cent stake in its German rival Delivery Hero, marking the latest deal for a European food delivery group by a US company. The San Francisco-based group will buy around €270mn of Delivery Hero shares at €20 each from the company’s largest shareholder, Prosus, the latter company said on Friday, confirming an FT report. Prosus, the Dutch investment group that is Delivery Hero’s largest shareholder, has agreed to sell down its stake to comply with EU competition rules.
Netflix a annoncé jeudi le départ prochain de son cofondateur Reed Hastings, qui a transformé l'entreprise de location de DVD par correspondance en un géant mondial de la diffusion en continu, à l'occasion de résultats financiers qui ont fait plonger son action en bourse. Actuellement président du conseil d'administration sans fonction exécutive, M. Hastings, 65 ans, a décidé de ne pas briguer un nouveau mandat d'administrateur, actant ainsi son retrait du groupe après l'assemblée générale de juin. Son départ intervient à un moment charnière pour la société, qui affiche sa confiance en son avenir malgré l'échec de son offre de plusieurs dizaines de milliards de dollars sur Warner Bros Discovery.
France’s Bouygues Telecom, Orange and Free-iliad Group bid roughly $24 billion for Altice Group’s French telecommunications operations, a deal that would dismantle a major plank of billionaire Patrick Drahi’s once sprawling business empire. The companies said Friday that they had entered exclusive talks about the proposed transaction. The move follows months of negotiations after Altice rejected an earlier roughly $20 billion approach from the consortium for most of its French telecom business, known as SFR. Drahi’s Altice became a major player in the telecommunications industry by buying up assets across Europe and in the U.S. He also bought storied auction house Sotheby’s.
Leaders in some of British Columbia’s rural communities are calling on the provincial government to support changes to the temporary foreign worker program or businesses will have to start shutting their doors. Tiffany Hetenyi, executive director of the Fort St. John and District Chamber of Commerce, says business owners tell her they will have to start reducing their hours, or close for good, because of staffing shortages. The federal government in March announced changes to the temporary foreign worker program meant to benefit employers in rural communities struggling to fill jobs, but provinces have to opt into the program.
Schroders’ shareholders have voted almost unanimously in favour of its takeover by US asset manager Nuveen, clearing the way for the £9.9bn deal to complete later this year and bringing to an end more than two centuries of family ownership of the British financial institution. Some 99.92 per cent of shares that were cast voted in favour of the sale at Schroders’ general meeting on Thursday, after Nuveen surprised the market with its all-cash offer of 590p per share and a 22p dividend in February. The Schroder family, which has a 42 per cent stake in the business, said at the time that it would back the deal, which would bring the curtain down on more than 220 years of family ownership, after it was founded by Johann Heinrich Schröder in 1804.
Influential proxy adviser ISS has urged shareholders to vote against Italian energy company Eni's proposal to sharply increase its chief executive's pay for 2026, calling the move "excessive". After nine years of no pay raise, Eni planned to lift CEO Claudio Descalzi's remuneration by about 23% to 8.9 million euros ($10.49 million), with pay rising up to 38% to 15.4 million euros under an additional overperformance tier in its long-term incentive plan, the proxy advisory firm said. Earlier this month, Rome proposed reappointing Descalzi, 71, for a fresh three-year term starting in May, which would extend his reign as the company's longest-serving head. "While some increase may have been understandable, the resulting level appears excessive," said ISS, calling current pay levels "already substantial". ISS recommendations guide large numbers of shareholder votes at annual general meetings.
Europe has only roughly six weeks of jet-fuel supply left and could soon face flight cancellations as the war in Iran strains global markets, said Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency. “I can tell you soon we will hear the news that some of the flights from city A to city B might be canceled as a result of lack of jet fuel” if the Strait of Hormuz isn’t fully reopened, he said in an interview with the Associated Press on Thursday. The Middle East supplies around a fifth of the world’s jet fuel, a refined form of kerosene that can withstand freezing temperatures at cruise altitudes. But with producers locked out of Hormuz, prices have surged to more than $200 a barrel, forcing airlines to trim schedules and add surcharges.
The future direction of corporate disclosure in the United States continues to face uncertainty as litigation holds up California’s enforcement of major new climate reporting requirements. In what supporters are describing as a “test case” for environmental transparency, judges in the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals are currently considering a protracted lawsuit against California’s Climate-Related Financial Risk Act. The legislation, known as SB 261, requires corporations with over $500 million in annual revenues to biennially report on climate-related financial risks and mitigation strategies. Implementation of the law, which was due to have come into force on January 1 this year, is on hold pending a legal decision.
A rebound in Canadian auto production in February helped drive higher manufacturing and wholesale sales for the month. Factory shipments rose a solid 3.6% from the month before to a seasonally adjusted 71.19 billion Canadian dollars, the equivalent of about US$51.7 billion, Statistics Canada said Wednesday. The result was slightly softer than the data agency’s flash forecast for monthly rise of 3.8%, but followed a slightly bigger than previously estimated 3.1% drop in sales in the first month of the year. Wholesale activity similarly recovered for the month, with sales rising 2% during February to C$86.77 billion, the national data agency said. That advance also was slightly weaker than the advance forecast for a 2.3% increase and came after sales dropped 1.1% to begin 2026.
Canadian companies using Amazon to pick, pack and ship goods will have to start paying a new surcharge because of rising fuel costs. The e-commerce giant says the 3.5 per cent surcharge on fulfillment fees will take effect on Friday. It will only apply to companies using its fulfilment program and will be charged to the business, not consumers buying products on Amazon. Spokesperson Andrew Gouveia says Amazon felt the surcharge was necessary to implement to partially recover some of the elevated fuel and logistics costs it was experiencing. Up until now, Gouveia says Amazon was absorbing the increases. Gas prices have soared in the wake of the war in the Middle East, which has blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a key fuel passageway.
Choice Properties REIT and KingSett Capital, a private real estate firm, are teaming up to buy First Capital REIT for $5.2-billion. Based in Toronto, First Capital’s retail-focused real estate portfolio is largely made up of open-air shopping centres in major cities, and the vast majority of them are anchored by a grocery store. In total, First Capital’s portfolio value amounts to $9.4-billion, which includes debt. Choice and KingSett are splitting this portfolio, with Choice buying $5-billion worth of properties and KingSett buying $4.4-billion worth of properties.
Shareholder proxy proposals have hit a five-year low as environmental and social resolutions experience a prolonged decline amid the US regulator’s efforts to limit investor activism. At Russell 3000 companies with annual meeting dates between January 1 and May 15, shareholder proposals fell 17 per cent from the same period last year, according to a report shared exclusively by ISS-Corporate. The drop was largely driven by a fall in environmental and social proposals amid a political environment that has turned against diversity and climate commitments. Changes at the Securities and Exchange Commission have also created more uncertainty, including the agency’s decision to step back as a mediator between companies and shareholders during proxy season, which has given businesses greater discretion over whether to exclude investor proposals.
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The U.S. is urging G20 members and the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to take coordinated action to ensure fertilizer access amid disruptions in food trade supply chains caused by the war in the Middle East, two sources familiar with the matter said on Friday. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent views fertilizer and agriculture supply chains as of essential importance, and is encouraging collaboration among G20 members and the global financial institutions, the sources said on condition of anonymity. The IMF and others have warned that supply chain disruptions caused by the war, especially to fertilizer at the start of the critical growing season, threaten to push 45 million more people into a position of food insecurity.
The European Union’s trade surplus with the rest of the world shrank by 60 per cent in February as exports to the United States dropped by more than a quarter, with U.S. import tariffs of 15 per cent largely in place on EU goods. EU exports as a whole were 9.3 per cent lower in February than a year earlier, while imports were down 3.5 per cent, EU statistics office Eurostat said on Friday. The largest export decline was towards the U.S., with a drop of 26.4 per cent, while imports from the United States were 3.2 per cent lower. EU exports to China were also down. A year ago, EU exporters had begun front-loading shipments to the U.S. in anticipation of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, inflating the export figures for early 2025 and potentially explaining February’s sharp decline.
Ce cessez-le-feu de dix jours a permis une accalmie dans les combats entre Israël et les militants du Hezbollah et pourrait lever un obstacle majeur à un accord entre l’Iran, les États-Unis et Israël. Dans un message publié sur les réseaux sociaux, vendredi matin, M. Trump a confirmé que l’Iran avait annoncé que le détroit est désormais «entièrement ouvert et prêt à accueillir tout type de passage». Quelques minutes plus tôt, le ministre iranien des Affaires étrangères, Abbas Araghchi, avait écrit sur X que la voie maritime est «totalement ouverte», conformément au cessez-le-feu au Liban. M. Araghchi a ajouté que le détroit restera ouvert pendant toute la durée du cessez-le-feu.
Canada Post is starting preliminary work to convert addresses that receive door-to-door mail to community mailboxes, and to phase out some post offices. The Crown corporation said in a news release the process is beginning after meetings with union officials. Canada Post said it’s converting about four million addresses to community mailboxes and the work is expected to take about five years, with different regions moving to community mailboxes each year. The corporation says it’s starting discussions with 13 communities across Canada — including Ottawa and Winnipeg — as it prepares to move about 136,000 addresses from door-to-door delivery to community mailboxes in late 2026 and early 2027.
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says Ottawa wants to start shipping liquefied natural gas from the Port of Churchill by 2030, calling it “a very aggressive, ambitious” target that will likely also include the construction of a new pipeline connecting to the Hudson Bay region. In an interview with The Globe and Mail, Mr. Kinew outlined his government’s early plans for the small, deepwater port in Northern Manitoba after meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney this week. “The Prime Minister was very clear about shipping LNG by 2030,” Mr. Kinew said, adding that the onus is now on the Manitoba government to begin construction and secure private-sector investment “as soon as possible.”
Evonik (EVKn.DE), opens new tab appointed Michael Rauch as the company's new chief financial officer, the German chemicals group said on Friday, following an extraordinary meeting. Evonik also extended current Chief Executive Officer Christian Kullmann's contract until 2030, it added. Rauch will start at Evonik on May 1, the company said.
The Financial Accounting Standards Board wants to require companies to disclose significant stablecoin holdings as part of a broader move to have companies break out their different types of cash equivalents. The accounting standard-setter voted Wednesday to propose that all companies must annually disclose the dollar amounts of the significant components of their cash equivalents. These components include investments with maturities of three months or less, like money-market funds, Treasury bills, commercial paper and possibly, stablecoins, for which there are no specific accounting rules at present. Equivalents are highly liquid, short-term but low-risk investments.
As the United States embarks on clearing mines from the Strait of Hormuz, it could draw on an arsenal of drones, explosive‑laden robots and helicopters to reduce risks, though de‑mining crews could still be vulnerable to Iranian attacks. The U.S. is trying to secure the strait from mines as part of efforts to end Iran's disruption of shipping, which has severely curbed global energy supplies since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes against Iran at the end of February. But while the U.S. can draw on modernised technology to remotely check for and remove mines, clearing a strategic waterway such as the Strait of Hormuz will still be a slow, multi‑step process, former naval officers and industry specialists say.
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce chief executive officer Harry Culham says the lender is bolstering financing for businesses as Ottawa injects cash into building major infrastructure. The federal government and Canada’s bank regulator have been seeking out ways to encourage more lending from the country’s largest banks to finance major projects and scale small and medium-sized businesses. CIBC plans to ramp up lending for energy, agriculture, transportation, small and medium-sized businesses, and other sectors deemed critical to Ottawa’s strategy to reinforce the economy as geopolitics upends global trade. “We’re going to lean in very heavily to this whole concept of nation building, and that involves everything from infrastructure to the other areas,” Mr. Culham said in an interview.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday that she agreed with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte to work in the coming weeks to strengthen the European Union's relationship with the military alliance. "We discussed the upcoming NATO Summit and how we can upscale defence industrial output in Europe," von der Leyen said in a post on social media platform X after meeting Rutte in Brussels. "We need to invest more, to produce more and to do both faster. With the rise in global security threats, we agreed to work closely together in the next weeks to strengthen the EU-NATO relationship and prepare a successful Summit in Ankara," she added.
The Canadian Real Estate Association has downgraded its forecast for home sales activity in 2026, while the number of homes across the country sold in March fell 2.3 per cent from a year earlier. CREA is now expecting a total of 474,972 residential properties to be sold throughout the year, which would be one per cent more than 2025. But that’s down from its previous forecast in January of 5.1 per cent growth year-over-year. The national average home price is forecast to rise 1.5 per cent on an annual basis to $688,955 in 2026, which would be around $10,000 lower than predicted in January. In March, the national average sale price fell 0.8 per cent compared with a year earlier to $673,084. CREA’s own home price index, which aims to represent the sale of typical homes, edged 0.4 per cent lower between February and March and dropped 4.7 per cent on a year-over-year basis.
The federal government is “very seriously” considering introducing a social media ban for kids, Culture Minister Marc Miller said Wednesday, days after party members voted in favour of a such a ban at the Liberal Party convention. “I respect and acknowledge the work that’s been done and the concern where that policy proposal came from,” Miller told reporters on Parliament Hill. “The grassroots have spoken. We do have to study that.” In Montreal on Saturday, party members passed a non-binding resolution calling on the government to set 16 as the minimum age for access to social media accounts.
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