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Welcome to The Globe and Mail’s business and investing news quiz. Join us each week to test your knowledge of the stories making headlines. Our business reporters come up with the questions, and you can show us what you know.
This week: Artificial intelligence companies are powering a surge in the stock market, but not everyone believes the sector’s prosperity is here to stay. Who said that? Take our quiz and find out.
c. US$4,000 per troy ounce. Gold has doubled over the past two years and this week rocketed past US$4,000 a troy ounce. What’s driving the bullion frenzy? It’s not entirely clear, but it’s tough to argue with such powerful momentum.
a. The Bank of England. On Wednesday, the Bank of England flagged the growing risk that tech stock prices could burst. Hours later, the head of the International Monetary Fund raised a similar alarm.
b. Jeff Bezos. Mr. Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com, told an Italian tech conference that artificial intelligence is currently in an “industrial bubble,” with some prices disconnected from reality. However, he said AI is “real” and will bring big benefits to society.
a. U.S. President Donald Trump said it of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. Their talks seemed more genial than past negotiations, but settled little, especially when it came to the contentious matter of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA. Mr. Trump suggested he might walk away from the deal, which is up for review next year and instead pursue separate trade pacts with Canada and Mexico. So who’s really the nasty one?
a. Large trucks. Mr. Trump said all medium- and heavy-duty trucks imported into the U.S. will face a 25 per cent tariff rate starting Nov. 1. The announcement is a bit baffling, since making trucks more expensive will raise the cost of transportation for all products – not a great outcome for someone who says he wants to tame inflation.
d. It announced the U.S. government is investing in its shares. The U.S. government is paying US$35.6-million for a 10 per cent stake in Canadian junior miner Trilogy Metals as part of an aggressive push by the Trump administration to bolster national security by improving U.S. access to key critical minerals. Trilogy shares surged by more than 210 per cent on the news.
d. 3,700 pages. The report, from the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario, recommended that Ottawa form a royal commission to conduct a thorough review of the entire Canadian tax system – the first such review since 1962. Since then, the Income Tax Act has swelled to around 3,700 pages.
c. It launched a couple of lower-cost models. Tesla rolled out “affordable” versions of its best-selling Model Y SUV and its Model 3 sedan, but the starting prices of US$39,990 and US$36,990 strike some observers as still too high.
b. It violated rules of a migrant workers’ program. Bolero Shellfish Processing Inc., based in Saint-Simon, N.B., was fined $1-million for violating rules of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program – the largest fine that the federal government has ever levied on a company for misusing the program for migrant labour.
d. The report was full of AI-generated errors. Hey, isn’t AI supposed to be a huge productivity boost? Maybe not. Deloitte Australia will partially refund the AUD$440,000 (CAD$405,000) that the Australian government paid for a report that was littered with apparent AI-generated errors, including a fabricated quote from a federal court judgment and references to nonexistent academic research papers.
b. Three. Mr. Lecornu was the third French prime minister to resign in the past year. His departure – hours before his first cabinet meeting – will pile more pressure on French President Emmanuel Macron to either find someone else who can form a government or call parliamentary elections.
c. More competition. The Bank of Canada warned this week against imposing more regulations on the financial sector. Instead, it urged measures to encourage more competition in the industry.