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 could boast about such good news as earning season continued, with one receiving a significant downgrade. Meanwhile, WestJet also heard some troubling news. WestJet Encore pilots issued a 72-hour strike notice to management and the government, its union said on Wednesday.
Also: All deals were extra-large this week, as was government support for a couple of businesses.
c. It generates renewable power. Neoen is one of the world's biggest pure players in renewable energy.
a. Britain’s Royal Mail. Mr. Kretinsky, who made a fortune by investing in fossil fuels, is buying Britain's 508-year-old Royal Mail for about $9.2-billion.
c. BHP Group is buying Anglo American. BHP Group’s $68-billion bid for fellow miner Anglo American expired this week after Anglo rejected BHP’s request to extend the takeover talks.
a. Existing home prices won’t fall. Mr. Trudeau pledged to make housing more affordable for younger buyers while keeping home prices high for existing homeowners. If that strikes you as a contradiction, join the club.
d. $1,700,000. Yep, Ottawa spent $1.7-million in taxpayers' money to help create 10 jobs. Corporate welfare is booming in Canada, according to Aaron Wudrick, domestic policy director at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. He estimates that federal business subsidies have more than doubled under the Trudeau government, to some $40-billion today from $17-billion in 2014.
c. $225-million. The $225-million will allow the province to accelerate the introduction of beer and wine at corner stores and could be the prelude to an election call.
b. A new Canadian women’s professional soccer league. The NSL will start play next April with six teams in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax. It aims to ride the swelling interest in women’s pro sports.
b. The U.S. economy grew slower in the first quarter of the year. The revised figures showed the U.S. economy expanded by only 1.3 per cent over the three months to March, compared with an original estimate of 1.6 per cent. Growth in consumer spending was revised down to 2 per cent from 2.5 per cent. However, inflation was lower than previously thought, at least as measured by personal consumption expenditures.
a. Toronto-Dominion Bank. Fitch Ratings said it lowered its outlook for TD Bank Group to negative from stable because of the potential repercussions from the bank’s anti-money-laundering problems in the United States.
d. About US$65-million. The five-month round trip from firing Mr. Chamandy to rehiring him is likely to wind up costing Gildan US$65-million or more. The expenses include legal and advisory fees as well as severances for departed executives.
b. All trades will now be completed within one business day. Stock and bond trades will now be completed within one business day of the trade rather than within two days as in the past. Among other things, shorter settlement times mean that money from selling securities will hit your investment account faster.
d. Four times. The economists polled by Reuters said the Bank of Canada will cut rates on June 5 and make three further cuts later in the year – although there is much less certainty about the last one.