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Welcome to The Globe and Mail’s business and investing news quiz. Join us each week to test your knowledge of the stories making the headlines. Our business reporters come up with the questions, and you can show us what you know.

This week: Royal Bank of Canada posted second-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates. The bank’s profit jumped 7 per cent to $4-billion, or $2.74 per share, in the three months that ended April 30. But not all of the big banks had such good news as earnings season continued, with one receiving a significant downgrade. WestJet also got some troubling news, as WestJet Encore pilots issued a 72-hour strike notice to management and the government, its union said on Wednesday.


1The Bank of Canada cut interest rates this week for the first time in four years. How many Group of Seven advanced economies cut rates before Canada?
a. Zero
b. One
c. Two
d. Six

a. Zero. Canada was the first G7 central bank to cut rates this business cycle, although it was followed a day later by the European Central Bank.

2The final section of the Gordie Howe International Bridge, linking Windsor, Ont., and Detroit, will be bolted into place this month. Who is paying for the $6.4-billion project?
a. The Ontario government
b. The Canadian government
c. The U.S. and Canadian governments
d. It is privately financed

b. The Canadian government. It is being paid for entirely by the Canadian government. The project will effectively double the region’s cross-border traffic capacity and make it easier for manufacturers to ship products back and forth across the border.

3Shareholders of Calgary-based TC Energy voted this week to:
a. Spin off the company’s oil pipelines
b. Spin off the company’s gas pipelines
c. Sell the company’s power division
d. Look for potential acquirers

a. Spin off the company’s oil pipelines. TC Energy shareholders voted to spin off the company’s liquids pipeline business into a new company called South Bow Corp. TC Energy will continue to own the company’s natural gas pipelines, storage, and power businesses.

4How slow is Toronto’s once-booming condo market? The One, a huge unfinished condo project in Toronto’s core, has fallen into receivership after its owners defaulted on loan payments. Lenders are owed $1.5-billion. They are seeking to sell the project and appear willing to take:
a. $1.5-billion
b. $1.4-billion
c. $1.2-billion
d. $1-billion

c. $1.2-billion. The lenders say if no bid satisfies their $1.2-billion minimum, they will provide the financing to complete construction themselves.

5What did Rupert Murdoch, the 93-year-old media magnate, do this week?
a. He launched a takeover bid for Pinterest
b. He stepped down from the board of News Corp.
c. He disinherited one of his sons
d. He got married

d. He got married. It was Mr. Murdoch’s fifth marriage. He and model Jerry Hall divorced in 2022; his new wife is Elena Zhukova, a 67-year-old Russian-born retired molecular biologist.

6Which Canadian company saw its stock jump this week after reporting better-than-expected earnings?
a. Bank of Nova Scotia
b. Lululemon
c. Shopify
d. BlackBerry

b. Lululemon. Lululemon stock had been in a slump but jumped this week after the retailer beat Wall Street’s earnings estimates. However, the Vancouver-based company only narrowly topped revenue expectations and is facing slow growth in the Americas, its largest market.

7Which country was just downgraded by S&P credit raters?
a. France
b. United Kingdom
c. The United States
d. Canada

a. France. The downgrade, to double-A-minus from double-A, will increase France’s borrowing costs. It adds to pressure on President Emmanuel Macron to deal with the country’s gaping deficits.

8Toronto-based GFL Environmental is assessing two buyout offers, according to a source familiar with the matter. What does GFL do?
a. It sells carbon credits
b. It manages waste
c. It manufactures air filters and purifiers
d. It generates green power

b. GFL manages waste. One of the current buyout offers is for the entire business, the other is for its environmental services division, which offers liquid waste management and soil remediation services.

9How much was stock in Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett’s flagship, down at its worst point this week?
a. 2 per cent
b. 5 per cent
c. 25 per cent
d. 99 per cent

d. 99 per cent. Okay, trick question. A software glitch at the New York Stock Exchange resulted in massive but momentary paper losses for Berkshire and other companies. Berkshire stock seemingly lost 99.97 per cent of its value before the trades were corrected.

10Keith Gill, the stocks influencer better known as Roaring Kitty, was back at it this week with a post that appeared to show he is making a US$116-million bet on a single company. That company is:
a. Coinbase
b. Micron Technology
c. GameStop
d. Peloton

c. GameStop. GameStop, a struggling video game retailer, has enjoyed a big jump in its share price since Mr. Gill boasted of his position.

11Nvidia, the maker of high-end computer chips for AI developers, is on fire. This week it passed Apple this week to become the world’s second most valuable company. Which company remains No. 1?
a. Saudi Aramco
b. Alphabet
c. Amazon
d. Microsoft

d. Microsoft. At least for now, Microsoft remains in top spot. The software giant was worth US$3.15-trillion as of Thursday morning compared to Nvidia’s US$3.012-trillion.

12WestJet Airlines introduced an UltraBasic ticket this week. Travelers flying UltraBasic will get preassigned seats at the back of the aircraft and board after everyone else. They will not be able to:
a. Recline their seats
b. use the washroom
c. Have a carry-on bag
d. Have a personal item

c. Have a carry-on bag. WestJet says the no-carry-on-bag policy will mean faster boarding. Oh, joy.

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