Why is Canada investigating Elon Musk’s Grok AI bot? Take our business and investing news quiz for the week ending Jan. 16

a. It slashed the price of its value menu to attract cash-strapped customers. When McDonald’s puts its prices on a diet, you know the economy is under pressure. The company said this week that its McValue Meal bundles will now cost $5 before tax, down from $5.99 previously. The cuts reflect the financial stresses on households, according to McDonald’s Canada chief executive officer Annemarie Swijtink.

d. They sank and sank. If you know a landlord, give her a hug. Asking rents in Canada fell 2.3 per cent year-over-year in December to an average of $2,060, according to a report from Rentals.ca and Urbanation. December was the 15th consecutive month that rents declined.

c. The Canada-U.S. free-trade deal. During a visit to a Ford plant in Michigan, Mr. Trump said the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement is “irrelevant” to him. His brusque dismissal of the USMCA underlines his growing frostiness toward the free-trade deal, which was negotiated and signed during his first term, and is up for renegotiation in the months ahead. Don’t expect the talks to go smoothly.

A, B and C. Okay, okay, Mr. Trump is staying out of the Super Bowl – at least, so far. However, he is busily making headlines just about everywhere else.

c. Four. Alphabet is the fourth company in the group of megacap tech giants to hit the US$4-trillion mark. It was preceded by Nvidia, Microsoft and Apple. To put that into perspective, the market value of all the companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and Toronto Venture Exchange is under US$4-trillion.

a. Rio Tinto and Glencore. Rio Tinto is poised to become the world’s largest miner, and by far the biggest player in Canadian critical minerals, by acquiring rival Glencore in a US$70-billion-plus takeover.

b. The United Arab Emirates. National Bank is expanding into Dubai as Ottawa seeks to increase trade between Canada and the UAE.

d. It declared bankruptcy. Saks Global filed for bankruptcy protection in one of the largest retail collapses since the pandemic. The luxury giant was split off from Hudson’s Bay Co. a little over one year ago, just weeks before Canada’s oldest retailer began insolvency proceedings.

b. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Mr. Macklem came to the defence of his U.S. counterpart, who is facing a criminal investigation from President Donald Trump’s Justice Department. Mr. Trump’s attack on the independence of the U.S. central bank has shaken markets and threatened to drive up bond yields.

d. Creating sexualized images of women. xAI says it has imposed restrictions on ‍all users of its Grok AI chatbot that will limit how they can edit images. The AI purveyor had been deluged by criticism after its chatbot produced hyperrealistic images of women manipulated to look like they were in microscopic bikinis, in degrading poses or covered in bruises. In some cases, minors were digitally stripped down to swimwear. Canada’s privacy watchdog launched an investigation into the reports and xAI on Thursday.

b. Batteries. Mr. Legault offered financial support for a battery cell megafactory championed by Sweden’s Northvolt AB. The factory, billed as the biggest private-sector project in the province’s history, was a key element in Mr. Legault’s strategy to make the province a global hub for electric-vehicle battery production. But Northvolt went bust last year and Quebec lost $270-million in the venture.

c. Bombardier. is enjoying strong demand for its luxury private jets. It says the new facility will support its existing product lines, which also include aircraft platforms used in the defence sector.