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: The news business often gets sleepy this time of year, as politicians and businesspeople turn their attentions to holiday parties and away from politics and business. But not in 2024! An entire month’s worth of news was crammed into this week, beginning with a surprising resignation letter from deputy prime minister and finance minister Chrystia Freeland to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. From there, things got wilder and woollier in Ottawa. And the drama on Parliament Hill wasn’t the only big news of the past few days. Can you recall the events of the week, and puzzle out how the markets wound down the year? Take our quiz to find out.
a. $20-billion. Ms. Freeland had promised to keep the deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year to $40.1-billion. It came in at $61.9-billion. Oops.
c. “Costly political gimmicks.” What’s the opposite of a valentine? Ms. Freeland’s bracingly frank letter – which she promptly posted to social media, in both official languages – criticizes “costly political gimmicks” and leaves little doubt about her disagreements with her leader.
c. In a Zoom call. Sources say Mr. Trudeau told Ms. Freeland in an hour-long video meeting that he wanted to remove her from the all-important finance portfolio and give her a new role without staff or a budget. But apparently, she was still expected to deliver a fiscal update in a few days and defend the government’s massive budget overrun.
b. Nine. On the morning of Dec. 16, Housing Minister Sean Fraser was just starting to announce his withdrawal from politics when news of Ms. Freeland’s own resignation broke and his departure became a footnote. The two latest exits bring the number of cabinet ministers who have announced they are leaving to nine since July.
d. France. The surprise downgrade followed just hours after President Emmanuel Macron named centrist Francois Bayrou as his fourth Prime Minister this year. Moody’s said “political fragmentation” in Paris means there is little chance the country’s rapidly growing fiscal deficit will be brought under control any time soon.
d. It is the smallest. Canada’s overall budget deficit this year is likely to be the smallest among G7 countries, according to the International Monetary Fund. That achievement reflects the country’s basically sound finances. It also reflects the enormous deficits that have become the norm in many other countries since the pandemic hit.
d. 1.9 per cent. Year-over-year inflation has spent all of 2024 below 3 per cent and is now dipping below the Bank of Canada’s 2-per-cent target.
b. Butter. Poland is selling up to 1,000 metric tonnes of its frozen butter reserves to help bring down surging prices before a presidential election in May.
b. "Totally toxic." Nobody ever claimed Mr. Trump was a gentleman. In a social-media post, he vented frustration with Ms. Freeland’s “totally toxic” negotiating style during talks in 2017 and 2018 that led to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the free-trade deal that replaced NAFTA.
a. “Governor” of the “Great State of Canada.” Like an aging nightclub comic, Mr. Trump loves to reuse old material. He “regularly jokes about Canada becoming a U.S. state and recently referred to Mr. Trudeau as the “governor” of the “Great State of Canada.”
c. Masayoshi Son. The chief executive of Japanese holding company Softbank Group, made a similar pledge during Mr. Trump’s first term, when he said he would invest US$50-billion and create 50,000 jobs. That resulted in, among other things, a massive investment in WeWork, an office-sharing company that imploded spectacularly.
d. Bill Gates. There is no sign that Mr. Gates is reaching for his wallet, but Mr. Bezos, Mr. Zuckerberg and Mr. Altman are all contributing, either personally or through their companies.
c. About US$250-million. Mr. Musk – who styles himself as “first buddy” to Mr. Trump – spent more than a quarter billion dollars to help re-elect the president and other Republican candidates, according to campaign finance records.
c. Cocoa. As of Dec. 18, cocoa futures are No. 1. They have shot up 180 per cent, compared with Tesla’s 93-per-cent gain, Bitcoin’s 136-per-cent advance and Broadcom’s 113-per-cent surge.
d. The S&P/TSX Composite in Canada. Canadian stocks performed superbly over the past six months. From June 18 to Dec. 18, the S&P/TSX Composite gained 14 per cent, beating the S&P 500 (7.3 per cent), the Nikkei (1 per cent) and the FTSE 100 (down 1 per cent). Tumbling interest rates helped.
a. It is a computer chip manufactured by Nvidia and used to build AI systems.
b. Introducing a four-day workweek. The Tokyo government says it hopes shortening the workweek will make it easier for young couples to have children. Japan’s fertility rate – the number of children that a woman has on average during her lifetime – has slid to 1.2, far below the 2.1 needed to maintain a steady population.
a. Bankruptcy adviser. Demand for bankruptcy lawyers and financial experts is soaring, as the number of corporate bankruptcies swells.
d. Nissan and Honda Like all Japanese automakers, Nissan and Honda are looking for ways to cut costs and make-up for lost time as they try to compete with low-priced Chinese electric vehicles, including considering a merger.