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: Tech leaders were lambasted before the U.S. Congress; Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said interest rates aren’t causing Canada’s housing woes; and the Alberta Investment Management Co. set up a $1-billion fund to invest in energy-transition and decarbonization opportunities.
Also: Elon Musk made headlines. How is this different from other weeks, you ask? Well, neither of the big stories involved something that he said on social media. One of his companies announced a major milestone while a judge in tiny Delaware made a big decision.
b. Stop selling directly to customers in Alberta. Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis, the body that regulates the sale of liquor in the province, says it will no longer stock wines from some B.C. winemakers unless those wine makers stop shipping their products directly to customers in Alberta. B.C. wine makers object to the threat and say Alberta is unfairly trying to impose its provincial rules outside its borders.
d. All the above After a difficult 2023, UPS wants to cut US$1-billion in expenses. It is planning to slash 12,000 positions, bring staff back to the office and explore the sale of its truckload brokerage business.
b. Shooting incidents at several cinemas. Shooters opened fire at four cinemas in the Greater Toronto Area. The incidents appear tied to efforts by some groups to dominate the lucrative market for South Indian-language films. Previously, vandals have slashed screens at Cineplex theatres showing Tamil movies and released pepper spray inside auditoriums.
a. A licensing dispute. Universal Music Group, which represents artists including Ms. Swift, Drake and Bad Bunny, says it will no longer allow their music on TikTok following the expiration of a licensing deal between the two parties. (Yes, some right-wing zealots worry Ms. Swift may throw her support to Mr. Biden and fake, AI-generated, explicit images of her are spreading on social media, but that is not what has caused the TikTok tussle.)
c. A return to modest growth. The Statistics Canada numbers suggest the Canadian economy grew at an annualized pace of 1 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2023 – not a boom by any means, but definitely better than the stagnant performance of the preceding months.
c. 25 per cent. Only 25 per cent of Canadian chief executives expect the economy to pick up this year, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC survey. In contrast, 44 per cent of international business leaders expect an improving economy.
a. Implanted a computer chip in a human brain. Details are scant, but Mr. Musk said the first human to replace an implant from his Neuralink company was recovering well. “Initial results show promising neuron spike detection,” he wrote. (No, we’re not quite sure what that means either.)
c. He is not entitled to a landmark compensation package potentially worth billions. The court ruling comes more than five years after a lawsuit claimed Tesla’s board of directors failed in their duty to shareholders when they handed Mr. Musk a compensation package that could be worth more than US$55-billion. The judge found that Mr. Musk, one of the world’s wealthiest people, had exerted undue influence over the compensation committee that negotiated the package.
b. Royal Bank of Canada. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a top U.S. banking regulator, fined City National Bank, a U.S. subsidiary of Royal Bank, for failure to establish effective risk management and internal controls.
d. Back off on plans to expand its oil production capability. Saudi Arabia reversed plans to boost its maximum sustainable capacity to 13 million barrels per day (bdp). The oil giant is currently pumping around 9 million bdp, well below its 12 million bpd limit, and has concluded that further investments in new oil fields don’t make sense.
a. Meta Platforms chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. Senator Lindsey Graham told Mr. Zuckerberg he should do more to safeguard children from the effects of Facebook and Instagram. “You have a product that’s killing people,” Mr. Graham said. Mr. Zuckerbeg apologized but stopped short of committing to a victim’s compensation fund.
c. 29 per cent. The Magnificent Seven now account for roughly 29 per cent of the S&P 500’s value. If their growth falters, the broad index is likely to struggle.
Ian McGugan