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: There was good news for bitcoin investors, bad news for Toronto taxpayers and ugly news for one bank employee. Both China’s President and Britain’s Prime Minister took decisive action. Meanwhile, Nike parted ways with a long-time spokesperson, Boeing faced renewed scrutiny and Meta was called out by one of its workers.
Also: The phrase “Money Money Money” is no longer just the lyrics to the theme song to The Apprentice.
1Shares of Montreal-based Gildan Activewear have sunk over the past month. What is the primary reason?
a. An analyst downgrade of the stock
b. A feud between the company and its ousted chief executive
c. A blistering report on the company’s use of third-world labour
d. Disappointing sales results
b. A feud between the company and its ousted chief executive. The Gildan board of directors and former chief executive Glenn Chamandy hurled more accusations at each other this week.
2What was labelled “a $2-trillion placebo” this week?
a. Programs at Canadian banks to advance environmental, social and governance (ESG) targets
b. Ottawa’s commitments to help fund battery and electric-vehicle factories
c. The Ontario government’s vow to rethink its Greenbelt policy
d. The move by Canadian community colleges to recruit larger and larger numbers of foreign students
a. Programs at Canadian banks to advance ESG targets. Investors for Paris Compliance, a shareholder advocacy group, accused Canada’s Big Five banks of making misleading sustainability claims.
3Which celebrity ended their 27-year-old endorsement relationship with Nike this week?
a. Wayne Gretzky
b. Joe Montana
c. Tiger Woods
d. Michael Jordan
c. Tiger Woods. Details of the split are unclear. Nike has been backing off golf and has declared its intention to cut costs. Mr. Woods, meanwhile, is rumoured to be on the verge of announcing a new endorsement deal with a different sponsor.
4Griftco Corp. and Money Money Money are:
a. Cryptocurrency companies named in recent lawsuits
b. The titles of two new memoirs about life on Bay Street
c. Fictional corporations in a new board game about the Alberta oilpatch
d. Mining companies that have received funding from the Ontario government
d. Mining companies that have received funding from the Ontario government. Both companies recently received funding from the Ontario Junior Exploration Program, which allocates taxpayer funds to junior mining companies for exploration projects.
5U.S. securities regulators gladdened the hearts of bitcoin investors this week by:
a. Endorsing the cryptocurrency
b. Calling a halt to several court cases involving crypto exchanges
c. Urging tax breaks for bitcoin miners
d. Approving exchange-traded funds (ETFs) aimed at ordinary investors who want to invest in bitcoin
d. Approving ETFs aimed at ordinary investors who want to invest in bitcoin. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved the launch of the first spot bitcoin ETFs but made it clear it wasn’t endorsing crypto. Bitcoin is “a speculative, volatile asset that’s also used for illicit activity,” SEC Chair Gary Gensler said.
6Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow unveiled a proposed budget this week that would hike property taxes in the city by how much?
a. 5 per cent
b. 7.6 per cent
c. 10.5 per cent
d. 12.1 per cent
c. 10.5 per cent. The proposed hike is the largest in recent memory. City staff say it could rise to 16.5 per cent if the federal government does not commit money to support growing numbers of refugee claimants.
7British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised legislation this week to overturn the convictions of nearly a thousand people who were falsely accused of theft or other offences because of faulty software run by Japanese software company Fujitsu. The convicted people were:
a. Customs agents
b. Bank examiners
c. Operators of small post offices
d. Tax assessors
c. Operators of small post offices. Mr. Sunak is responding to public fury ignited by a television drama that told the tale of how the faulty software ruined the lives of those falsely accused of pilfering.
8A data scientist at Meta Platforms claim she is under investigation by the company, which operates Facebook and Instagram, for:
a. Alleging Meta censors pro-Palestinian viewpoints
b. Alleging Meta deliberately targets young users
c. Alleging Meta favours Donald Trump
d. Alleging Meta favours Joe Biden
a. Alleging Meta censors pro-Palestinian viewpoints. The Meta staffer says she wrote an internal letter referencing a recent report from Human Rights Watch that criticizes Meta for removing pro-Palestinian content. She says the letter was removed and deleted and that she was informed she was under investigation by the company’s Human Resources department.
9Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed this week to step up his fight against corruption. How has the Chinese stock market (as measured by the CSI 300 index) fared over the past year?
a. It has gained 12 per cent
b. It has flat lined
c. It has lost 5 per cent
d. It has lost 18 per cent
d. It has lost 18 per cent. Analysts worry the new crackdowns will deter foreign investment and further stifle economic activity.
10A mid-air cabin blowout has once again cast a spotlight on Boeing Co.’s spotty safety record. How many people died in 2018 and 2019 in crashes of the company’s Max 8 plane?
a. There were forced landings but no one was killed
b. More than 300
c. 100 to 200
d. Fewer than 100
b. More than 300. There were 346 deaths, which led to groundings of the plane worldwide for 20 months.
11A former employee of which Canadian bank has been charged by U.S. authorities with money laundering for drug traffickers?
a. Toronto-Dominion Bank
b. Royal Bank of Canada
c. Bank of Nova Scotia
d. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
a. Toronto-Dominion Bank. The former employee worked at a New Jersey branch of Toronto-Dominion. He allegedly helped to shuttle millions of dollars in drug-trafficking proceeds from the United States to Colombia.
12Buzzword alert: What is “soft saving”?
a. A personal finance strategy that emphasizes the accumulation of non-cash rewards such as credit card points
b. A philosophy that emphasizes enjoying a comfortable lifestyle today rather than saving for the long term
c. The rejection of traditional financial planning goals in favour of a focus on building strong personal relationships
d. Making charitable contributions a high priority in your financial planning
b. Enjoying a comfortable lifestyle rather than saving for the long term. An Intuit study found many Generation Z investors are focusing on a life of fulfillment now because the future is so uncertain. The study dubbed this soft saving.
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