The Peak Daily

India announced a ban on wheat exports over the weekend, a move that threatens to drive up already-high food prices and worsen shortages of key crops caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It’s inflation week. We’ll get April inflation numbers on Wednesday, and analysts are forecasting a similar pace of price rises (6.7%) as the previous month. That slowdown in the growth of inflation is welcome...

In the midst of a week packed with inflation concerns, stock market pressures, and the breakdown of popular stablecoins, the volatility of cryptocurrency is on full display. Canadian seniors are turning to  reverse mortgages  as they consider new ways to fund their retirement—one private lender, Equitable Bank, saw a 262% year-over-year surge in its reverse mortgage products last quarter. This tim...

As more people take advantage of the opportunity to work remotely, extend vacations, or just take a vacation at all, Airbnb has unveiled changes to its platform that cater to longer stays. Alberta’s highest court has ruled that a 2019 federal environmental impact law overreaches into provincial jurisdiction and is therefore unconstitutional . For almost 100 years, Michelin Guides (by tire company...

Clearview, the surveillance company that rose to fame for scraping social media to build a huge facial recognition database, agreed to permanently ba n most private companies from using its service under a court settlement in Illinois. The stock split club just added a new (and unexpected) member: Nintendo. The Japanese game giant announced a 10-for-1 split to make the stock more affordable for re...

If you’re wondering what’s up with stocks lately, you probably already know the answer is that nothing’s up. We break down the latest markets news. Quebec’s stringent new French-language laws are expected to pass before summer, which would leave tens of thousands of (previously exempt) businesses forced to adopt higher standards around French signage, contracts, and employee language proficiency....

Despite a Canadian horse being one of the favourites, Canadians couldn’t bet on last Saturday’s Kentucky Derby through single game sports betting apps because the government excluded it from new regulations. One in five container ships globally are currently stuck at major ports due to service and route disruptions stemming from lockdowns in Shanghai and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. One of Canada...

Calgary’s Neo Financial has raised C$185 million led by billionaire Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures—launching the challenger bank into Canadian unicorn status, or a valuation of over $1 billion. Shopify missed profit estimates and announced the largest acquisition in its history, a US$2.1 billion deal for startup Deliverr to expand its warehousing and delivery services for merchants that would rival...

Markets are trying to connect the dots on the future of ride-sharing, as Uber doubles its revenue from last quarter but Lyft’s weak earnings outlook has dragged both companies’ stock prices down. Canada has become one of the first countries in the world to hold crowdfunding platforms to the same reporting standards as banks for large or suspicious transactions. Thanks to boosts from recent acquisi...

The United Church of Canada has plans to create new rental apartments for 34,000 people over the next 15 years by revitalizing its properties to find new uses for old churches across the country Restaurant Brands International (RBI) reported a net income of US$183 billion in Q1, much of it driven by Tim Hortons which boosted its year-over-year sales by nearly 13% and saw the largest earnings of an...

Turns out, the majority of mental health and prayer apps are pretty creepy—tracking, sharing, and capitalizing on users’ most intimate personal thoughts and feelings. Canadian conglomerate Thompson Reuters is launching an independent assessment to align itself with the UN’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights Stellantis—the world’s sixth-largest automaker, with brands including Chrysle...

Social media and camera company Snap announced a mix of new platform features this week—some that bet on bringing augmented reality (AR) into daily life, and others that fly. Tesla has recalled 48,000 vehicles in the US over concerns about speedometer displays, marking Tesla’s tenth recall campaign of the year. French social media app BeReal is betting that social media users tired of filters and...

Meta’s stock surged yesterday after adding more users than expected but posted its slowest revenue growth since going public a decade ago Canada has joined 55 other countries in signing a pledge to promote connectivity, democracy, and “the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms” on an internet that is open, reliable, and secure. Block (formerly Square), the digital-payments company run...

Spotify gained two million new paying subscribers over Q1 and its total monthly average of paid and unpaid users rose to 422 million, representing a net gain of 16 million in the period—but the news wasn’t enough to stop the stock from hitting an all time low. Canada’s Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development released five new reports and taking the Canadian government to task o...

Elections Canada is undergoing a digital makeover that includes virtual offices and modernizing record-keeping. The EU has issued a warning to Elon Musk over Twitter’s (still feels weird saying that), making it clear that, free speech plans aside, Twitter must comply with the EU’s new digital regulations or risk being fined up to 6% of their total revenue or even banned outright in the Eurozone. C...

As China continues to keep much of Shanghai in lockdown as it combats a mass Covid outbreak, Chinese stocks have fallen to their lowest levels in over two years with two main stock indexes falling 5% Monday. Beekeepers across Canada are buzzing with concerns over alarmingly high bee mortality rates owing to damages from the (menacingly named) Varroa destructor mite, with some keepers in Manitoba a...

Lululemon is launching two  membership plans  later this year in a bid to drive customer brand loyalty and help reach its ambitious goal of doubling sales to  US$12.5 billion by 2026 . Angus Reid **released a new survey that found 51% of Canadians favour  abolishing the monarchy  in Canada A Twitter Canada executive has reportedly likened the federal government’s plan to regulate the internet to t...

Telsa CEO Elon Musk confirmed that, between his own considerable wealth and loans from banks led by Morgan Stanley, he has lined up the financing to buy Twitter, which is something you can do when you’re the richest person in the world As companies continue to raise prices to offset inflation, wage hikes and product shortages, sales numbers from Nestle and P&G (the world’s largest CPG companie...

Rogers announced a double dose of good corporate news yesterday, posting a 7% quarterly year-over-year revenue increase for wireless services and confirming the company is on track to close its $26 billion acquisition of Shaw by the end of June. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is urging lawmakers to terminate the self-governing privileges that Disney World holds in the state Inflation rose 6.7% from...

The Canadian Real Estate Association and the Toronto and Vancouver real estate boards are gearing up to fight a proposed ban on ‘blind bidding’ for houses—which keeps potential homebuyers in the dark about the other bids on a property. Netflix has reported that its earnings dropped last quarter, but it’s hardly the only video streaming service struggling to attract new subscribers and some are eve...

A new report from PitchBook found that venture capital investment in Canadian startups surpassed $13.6 billion in 2021, crushing the previous record of $5.8 billion in 2019—and the good times are rolling on, with investment set to match that pace this year. Here’s an obstacle Tesla may not have seen coming: a crackdown by US regulators on its self-driving technology that could make consumers think...

The federal government is writing off $20 million paid to Ottawa-based Spartan Bioscience for COVID tests that didn’t work. OpenAI’s widely hyped DALL-E AI image generator can now edit pictures, too. Zoom, the omnipresent conference call platform is venturing into sales automation software (SAS), a space that could grow to a $7.3 billion industry by 2028. Celebrating something? Let us know for a s...

Last month, Ontario became the first province to create a law that protects everyday investors from unqualified financial professionals, per The Globe and Mail. “All that and a bag of chips” isn't the compliment it once was, as bags of chips contain fewer salty morsels than ever thanks to “ shrinkflation .” The Bank of Canada (BoC) is set to hike interest rates further today , with experts agreein...

As Etsy tries to graduate from niche online marketplace status to the e-commerce big leagues, a public battle over fee increases is heating up between the company and its sellers. Two Canadian employees for GlobeNewswire are under investigation by the Ontario Securities Commission for allegedly using their access to unpublished corporate press releases to carry out advantageous trades. Canada is t...

According to The Logic , Goodfood let go of 70 employees this week (the third round of cuts affecting a quarter of its workforce since last year) and has announced it’s closing its Ontario distribution centre. Following Robinhood, Snap, Roku and Uber , Shopify has moved to give employees more choice between cash and equity compensation in addition to their base salary. There’s a new kid on the mot...

Meta draws up plans to introduce virtual coins (dubbed ‘Zuck bucks’) and other financial services to diversify its ad-based revenue system. The federal transportation regulator has determined that Edmonton-based Flair Airlines may be in violation of the law that requires it to be controlled by Canadians. Minister Freedland’s budget commits to doubling the number of new homes that are built in the...