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 in business and investing: Teck Resources surprised many investors by agreeing to sell part of its business to Swiss giant Glencore PLC along with two Asian steelmakers. It’s a US$8.9-billion transaction that will require federal approval. Founded more than a century ago, Teck is the country’s largest diversified mining company and a major employer in British Columbia. Glencore had been weighing its options since the spring, when an earlier plan to spin off part of its business was killed because of insufficient shareholder support.
Meanwhile, Argentina is headed to the polls, Italy is worried about inflation and Canadian landlords are having issues. Also, there’s been bad news about rents, jobs and the box office. On the upside, Jimbo Fisher is having a good week. Yes! That Jimbo Fisher.
Do you remember these stories? Take our quiz below to test your recall for the week ending Nov 17.
1Ouch! Rents across Canada jumped nearly 10 per cent over the past year. In Vancouver, the most expensive city for renters, a two-bedroom apartment now goes for an average monthly rent of:
a. $2,915
b. $3,220
c. $3,613
d. $3,777
d. $3,777. Asking rents across Canada have hit record highs for six months in a row.
2Double ouch! It’s layoff season on Bay Street. Among the companies that have recently announced staff reductions of 200 people or more are:
a. Bank of Nova Scotia
b. Royal Bank of Canada
c. Manulife Investment Management
d. All of the above
d. All of the above. Manulife Investment Management cut 250 jobs, Bank of Nova Scotia 2,700 and Royal Bank 1,800.
3Teck Resources Ltd.
made headlines this week when the Canadian miner agreed to sell a key unit to Glencore and others for US$8.9-billion. The business being sold primarily produces:
a. Copper
b. Thermal coal
c. Metallurgical coal
d. Timber
c. Metallurgical coal. Teck cancelled an earlier plan to spin off the unit because of insufficient shareholder support.
4The three movies that have grossed the most money globally this year share an interesting characteristic. They are:
a. Directed by women
b. Not sequels
c. Cartoons
d. More than two hours in length
b. Not sequels. Say what you will about Barbie, The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Oppenheimer, but none of them are sequels or spin offs from established movie franchises. After years in which superhero sagas and Mission Impossible installments dominated the box office, Hollywood is rediscovering the appeal of originality.
5Argentina heads to the polls on Sunday to pick a new president. Inflation in the country is running at an annualized pace of:
a. 14 per cent
b. 28 per cent
c. 85 per cent
d. 143 per cent
d. 143 per cent. The country’s sky-high inflation will be the central topic in the election.
6Italy, too, is worried about inflation. Its competition watchdog is investigating whether a price-fixing cartel is behind the recent surge in the cost of:
a. Wine bottles
b. Grappa
c. Gucci shoes
d. Opera tickets
7High interest rates and work from home continue to take a toll on office landlords. True North Commercial REIT, which owns offices primarily in Ottawa and the Greater Toronto Area, announced this week it is:
a. Looking for a potential acquirer
b. Halting its monthly distribution
c. Planning to raise new equity capital
d. Merging with a rival
b. Halting its monthly distribution. True North said it intends to buy back its shares to help boost their value.
8It’s nice work if you can get it: Jimbo Fisher is set to collect a buyout of more than US$75-million after being fired from his high-profile job. He was:
a. Head football coach at Texas A&M university
b. Head labor negotiator for General Motors Co.
c. Head of AI development at Alphabet Inc.
d. Head of audience standards at X (formerly Twitter)
a. Head football coach at Texas A&M university. Coach Fisher amassed an underwhelming 45-25 record in six seasons at Texas A&M.
9Warren Buffett knows a bit about the stock market. So far this year the billionaire investor has:
a. Purchased US$24-billion more in stocks than he had sold
b. Sold US$24-billion more in stock than he has bought
c. Kept the size of his stock portfolio roughly flat
d. Tilted his portfolio heavily toward European stocks
b. Sold US$24-billion more in stock than he has bought. Mr. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway flagship has dumped stocks including General Motors and Procter & Gamble.
10How much money would you have had to make in 2021 to qualify as a member of Canada’s top 1 per cent of tax filers?
a. $285,900
b. $438,050
c. $579,100
d. $1,076,300
c. $579,100. Canada’s top income earners saw their incomes jump 9.4 per cent in 2021, the most recent year for which data is available.
11This retailer’s stock jumped 17 per cent in a single day this week after reporting better than expected sales:
a. Wal-Mart
b. Target
c. Home Depot
d. Canadian Tire
b. Target. Target’s stock had nearly fallen 26 per centfallen nearly 26 per cent since January, hit by slowing sales and higher levels of organized retail crime.
12The head of the Canadian Real Estate Association says would-be home buyers:
a. Are itching to get into the market
b. Are becoming more discriminating
c. Have grown more aggressive
d. Have gone into hibernation
d. Have gone into hibernation. CREA chair Larry Cerqua added that the October sales figures suggest some sellers may also be shelving their plans until next spring.
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Ian McGugan