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: Toronto’s massive storm that flooded highways and left many without power was just the beginning of the country’s flood-related headaches. Insurance companies are clueing in on the increase in flooding related to climate change and urban sprawl, and is leaving many homeowners uncertain about their future coverage.
Also: Elon Musk says he’s ditching the West Coast lifestyle and moving his companies’ headquarters out of California.
a. 2.7 per cent. The Consumer Price Index was 2.7 per cent higher in June than a year earlier, Statistics Canada said. That was down from a 2.9-per-cent annual pace in May. The decline raises hopes the Bank of Canada may cut interest rates again next week.
d. A dinosaur fossil. Mr. Griffin paid US$44.6-million for the remains of a 150-million-year-old stegosaurus known as Apex, making it the most valuable fossil ever sold at auction.
c. About $100-million. The Quebec Superior Court found in 2022 that Air Canada violated federal law by failing to keep open three maintenance centres after the contractor that ran them collapsed in 2012. This week, the judge decided on a formula to calculate lost wages and other damages. The total compensation will likely top $100-million – at least $45,400 per employee – according to a lawyer representing the workers. Air Canada is appealing.
b. Has only six weeks to renegotiate its debt. Toronto-based Corus said it has until Sept. 1 to negotiate some form of debt relief from its lenders. Otherwise, it may not be able to meet its debt commitments, which would cast doubt on its “ability to continue as a going concern.”
d. Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple and Eli Lilly have contributed 50 per cent of returns for the MSCI All Country World Index over the past three years, according to a recent Bank of America report.
b. One in 10. About 10 per cent of homes in Canada, or 1½ million, are uninsurable for flood risk today. Industry experts expect the number to grow.
a. Texas. Mr. Musk said he is moving the headquarters of most of the companies he controls or heads, including Tesla, to Texas. He changed his own residence from California to Texas in 2021.
c. About 10,000. Ottawa added 10,525 people to its payroll in the year ended March 31. The hiring brought the number of workers in the federal public service to a record high of 367,772. Despite the rise, the pace of growth was still the slowest it has been in seven years.
b. She swam in the Seine River. Her much delayed dip was designed to alleviate concerns the river is too polluted to hold swimming events.
c. Worries about Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Mr. Trump rattled investors when he said Taiwan, a major producer of semiconductors, should start paying the United States for its defence. The drop in value also reflected worries that the Biden administration is considering even tighter controls on exports of advanced chip technology to China.
a. The Mirage. The Mirage opened in 1989 and was famed for its fire-spewing volcano. The hotel, which was home to Siegfried & Roy’s show for many years, will be replaced by a new guitar-shaped Hard Rock Las Vegas, scheduled to open in 2027.
d. Financially supporting a child. The survey by the Royal Bank of Canada found that 21 per cent of respondents are financially supporting a child, and 30 per cent have provided money to a grandchild, sometimes for everyday living costs or for their education costs.