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-Dominion Bank named new co-heads for its investment banking business. The move was precipitated by the surprise departure of the head of Canadian personal banking last year. However, it was only the second biggest executive shuffle in the financial sector over the past seven days, thanks to a big announcement at one of TD’s rivals. Meanwhile, The Body Shop Canada Ltd. filed a “notice of intention” under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act with the Ontario Superior Court. The U.S. wing of the cosmetics company also entered bankruptcy and closed all of its locations.
Also: Elon Musk continued to make friends.
1The Body Shop Canada said this week it is seeking protection from creditors and plans to close nearly one-third of its stores. What was the immediate cause of the closings, according to court documents?
a. Improper management of its funds by its British parent
b. Shifting consumer tastes
c. A poor holiday season
d. A lawsuit from former employees
a. Improper management of its funds. The finances of Body Shop’s Canadian unit deteriorated after a German private equity firm acquired the British parent last year, according to an affidavit by the executive formerly in charge of The Body Shop Canada.
2“It would be great if it was less painful.” Who said that this week and about what?
a. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre about his new fitness regimen
b. Treasury Board President Anita Anand about the scandals turned up by the investigation into the ArriveCan app
c. Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem about his decision to hold the bank’s interest rate steady
d. Denis Villeneuve, director of Dune: Part Two, about the widespread interest in having him make a third Dune film.
c. Tiff Macklem on interest rates. Mr. Macklem indicated this week that the central bank would continue to keep interest rates high until it sees convincing evidence that inflation is fading back to target.
3Which of these investments hit a record high in recent days?
a. Bitcoin
b. Gold
c. The Nasdaq Composite index
d. All the above
d. All the above. Yep, everything has been going up. Why? Excitement over AI and hopes of lower interest rates, perhaps. Or just plain high spirits.
4Tech zillionaire Elon Musk, who helped create AI pioneer OpenAI, is now suing the organization for doing what?
a. Ignoring the risks of AI
b. Seeking a profit
c. Refusing to share its intellectual property
d. Denying him board seats
b. Seeking a profit. Mr. Musk alleges OpenAI was set up to develop AI for the benefit of humanity but has transformed itself into a for-profit entity largely controlled by Microsoft.
5Meanwhile, four former Twitter executives are suing Mr. Musk for US$128-million. What do they allege?
a. Mr. Musk set unrealistic standards
b. Mr. Musk deliberately drove down the value of the company after acquiring it
c. Mr. Musk verbally harassed them
d. Mr. Musk denied them severance pay
d. Mr. Musk denied them severance pay. The former Twitter executives say Mr. Musk falsely accused them of misconduct and forced them out of the company.
6One persistent drag on Canada’s economy has been low levels of investment in things such as machinery, equipment and factories. Ignoring recessions, real business investment per worker is now at its lowest level since:
a. 2004
b. 2007
c. 2012
d. 2019
a. 2004. Business investment fell in the final three months of 2023. It has declined in six out of the past seven quarters.
7Which Canadian bank is shaking up its senior ranks as it sets the stage for eventual succession?
a. Royal Bank of Canada
b. Bank of Montreal
c. CIBC
d. Bank of Nova Scotia
c. CIBC. Victor Dodig has been in the top job at CIBC for nearly a decade.
8Apple shares fell this week after news that:
a. The European Union had fined the company
b. iPhone sales were tumbling in China
c. It was closing its electric car project
d. All the above
d. All the above. Investors are growing impatient as they wait for Apple to reveal more about its AI efforts. Meanwhile, iPhone sales in China plunged 24 per cent in the first six weeks of the year and the European Union hit the company with a fine of nearly US$2-billion for hindering competition in music streaming.
9New York Community Bancorp, a troubled regional lender in the United States, was forced to raise US$1-billion and shake up its leadership this week to address doubts about its solvency. According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, how many U.S. banks are currently at risk of failing?
c. 52. That is up 18 per cent from the previous quarter. The good news? The troubled banks are typically small or mid-sized lenders. The total assets of all the banks on the problem list amount to only about 0.2 per cent of the overall banking sector.
10More than 90 business leaders sent an open letter to federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland this week asking the government to:
a. Change rules to encourage pension funds to invest more in Canada
b. Lower tax rates on capital investments
c. Decrease the minimum wage
d. Expand the temporary foreign workers program
a. Change rules on pension funds. The executives would like to see pension funds invest more in publicly traded Canadian stocks. Pension managers are dubious about the idea and say their duty is to achieve the best returns for pensioners.
11Which iconic Canadian tourism attraction has been saved after its deeply indebted owner found a financial savior?
a. The Big Nickel in Sudbury
b. Boat tours of Niagara Falls
c. Chuck wagon races at the Calgary Stampede
d. The Green Gables house in PEI
b. Boat tours of Niagara Falls. Hornblower Group, operator of the cruises, filed for bankruptcy protection after years of losses, but has succeeded in finding a new owner.
12The Magnificent Seven – Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla – have dominated stock markets in recent years. Further gains aren’t guaranteed, though. How many of these seven wonder stocks are now trading below their levels at the start of the year?
a. Two
b. Three
c. Four
d. Five
b. Three. Alphabet, Apple and Tesla shares are all down since the start of the year (at least, as of noon Thursday). However, Nvidia and Meta Platforms have posted huge gains.
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Ian McGugan