Tag: business

A Supreme Court ruling, Canadian home sales fall and the Rogers family feud escalates: Business and investing news for October 15

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Business groups in Alberta are celebrating Friday’s decision by the Supreme Court of Canada that ruled the federal government’s impact assessment law is largely unconstitutional.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press

Getting caught up on a week that got away? Here’s your weekly digest of the Globe’s most essential business and investing stories, with insights and analysis from the pros, stock tips, portfolio strategies and more.

Supreme Court rules federal environmental impact law is unconstitutional

Canada’s top court ruled on Friday that a federal environmental impact law is unconstitutional. The Impact Assessment Act, enacted in 2019, allows Ottawa to assess the potential environmental impacts of designated energy and infrastructure projects. Five out of the seven judges ruled against the assessment act. The federal government responded by committing to revising the law and bringing its changes quickly before Parliament, Sean Fine reports. Alberta sent the case to the province’s Court of Appeal in 2022, ruling that the law violated provincial jurisdiction. The federal government then appealed to the Supreme Court. Quebec and Ontario were also among the provinces who opposed the law.

CREA downgrades home sales forecast for second time in 2023

Canada’s housing market continues to cool down as home sales fell in September, according to the national real estate association. The number of home resales fell 1.9 per cent in September, with activity dropping in the country’s two most expensive markets of Toronto and Vancouver, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). It was the third straight month of declines. Rachelle Younglai also reports that CREA downgraded its outlook for home sales and prices in 2023 for the second time this year.

Have long-term yields peaked, or just paused?

The bond market has seen a sharp sell-off since July, and when the price of bonds

Business News, Strategy, Finance and Corporate Insight

ON AUGUST 22, 2022, the Central government announced a review of overseas investment framework to bring clarity on direct and portfolio investments abroad. It brought various transactions under automatic route to enhance ease of doing business. Overseas investments rules and regulations superseded the earlier framework governed by Foreign Exchange Management (Transfer Or Issue Of Any Foreign Security) Regulations, 2004, and Foreign Exchange Management (Acquisition And Transfer of Immovable Property Outside India) Regulations, 2015. The government said the framework is aligned with current business and economic dynamics. The changes were projected as important “in view of evolving needs of businesses in India” that needed to become part of global value chains in an increasingly integrated global market.

A year later, in August 2023, India’s outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) was $595 million, the lowest in 17 months since February 2022. The cumulative outflow was $4.2 billion in first five months of FY24. It was $13.3 in FY23 as against $18.1 billion in FY22. The slowdown was a grim reminder that investment decisions are market-driven — poor global economic conditions in this case — and increasing ease of doing business can aid but not trigger overseas investment by Indian companies. “All inbound and outbound investments are a result of economic activity. Considering the buoyancy in Indian economy and wide consumer base, more and more multinationals are setting up offices in India. Indian companies will also invest overseas depending on business opportunities. As global economic situation improves, Indian companies will invest overseas,” says Puneet Gupta, partner–Tax, KPMG in India.

One year is perhaps too early to gauge the impact of a reform but finance ministry data says OFDI has been in the $13 billion to $15 billion range since FY17 with FY22 being an aberration (See: Overseas Direct Investment). Whether India Inc.

My Forex Funds Questions CFTC’s Jurisdictions on Its Business

The legal representatives of My Forex Funds and its CEO, Murtaza Kazmi, have responded to all the allegations brought by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and categorically denied them.

According to the 41-page motion filled in the US court yesterday (Tuesday), “the CFTC has no likelihood of succeeding on its allegations because MFF has never solicited or accepted any investments from its customers or engaged in retail foreign exchange transactions or, indeed, any transactions with retail investors.”

The CFTC initially filed the lawsuit against two entities named Traders Global Group, one based in New Jersey and the other in Canada, operating as My Forex Funds, and Kazmi, who controls them as the CEO. With many allegations, the crux of the regulatory lawsuit is that Traders Global is a fraudulent organization.

The Defense Denies All Allegations

In the recent response, the attorneys of My Forex Funds and Kazmi questioned the jurisdiction of the CFTC over the prop trading platform, stating that “the transactions between MFF and its customers fall outside the scope of the Commodities Exchange Act’s (CEA’s) anti-fraud provisions, registration requirements, and off-exchange trading prohibitions.”

“But even if those provisions did apply, the CFTC’s allegations are devoid of factual support,” the motion of the defense added.

Murteza Kazmi, CEO at My Forex Funds

The court filing detailed the business model of My Forex Funds, highlighting that the platform “paid out tens of millions of dollars to customers in accordance with the rules it established and that were agreed by its customers.” Further, it pointed out that the CFTC failed to produce evidence from even a single distressed customer of

Breaking ground on innovation: University reveals vision for new Business Building

Thursday, Oct. 12, marked the start of a yearlong sesquicentennial commemoration for the University of Nevada, Reno. The official groundbreaking for the new College of Business was a noteworthy event to highlight the University’s 150 years of growth. 

“It will be a place where our students can interact and engage with business leaders from throughout the community and from around the world,” Greg Mosier, dean of the College of Business, said. Other honorary speakers, including University President Brian Sandoval, United States Senator Catherine Cortez Masto and Mayor of the City of Sparks Ed Lawson attended in celebration with the University. 

As groundbreaking approached, Mosier revealed exciting details about the new building. Guests and students will enter through the Gateway Plaza, an outdoor space for special events and activities. The highly anticipated five-story, 128,000-square-foot project will stand beside a hotel and conference center, all connected by the Gateway Plaza. These conference and dining spaces will host significant regional events, while the hotel will host global business leaders. Guests will have an immersive, on-campus experience once constructed. One essential feature of the new building is a 300-seat auditorium dedicated to holding speaking engagements and business forums attended by industry experts, nationally recognized leaders, and students. 

“Academics, members of industry, entrepreneurs and students will collaborate here in the pursuit of our educational, research and outreach mission that directs us, to work together, to create a highly diversified, vibrant, technologically enhanced economy for all Nevadans,” Mosier said.

Anticipated to open in fall 2025, the new College of Business will embody all the hallmarks of a 21st-century business school. The future of business will leverage familiar resources like the Ozmen Center for Entrepreneurship alongside new spaces like the Finance Suite. The suite will include offices, laboratories and classrooms centered around finance. An enticing section within

Viral video prompts surge of support for Guelph business


A Guelph gas station is thanking the community and the power of social media for saving their business.


Global Gas Station at 390 York Rd. says they’ve seen at least a 35 per cent drop in revenue amid the ongoing York Road reconstruction project.


“We would have to just close the station. I think it takes so long and a lot of people aren’t coming down,” said Vino Sutha, whose father owns the gas station.


In a last-ditch effort, Sutha posted a video to TikTok on Saturday highlighting why his “family business is on the verge of losing everything.”


“It was like kind of like a Hail Mary. I expected maybe like 5,000 people to see and it just went viral,” said Sutha.


The video has since received more than 287,000 views and 9,000 comments.


The viral post has translated to a massive spike in business. Sutha says roughly 300 to 400 customers have visited the gas station in the last few days after seeing the video on social media.


“On Saturday morning someone drove down like an hour just because they just wanted to see us. Crazy to see social media can do that,” said Sutha.


He is hoping the sudden boost of customers will fuel their business until the end of the road construction project.


“We’re just hoping like it sticks through. A lot of people have said that we didn’t even know you guys were here. We hope most people just keep coming down,” said Sutha.


The York Road reconstruction project began in 2017 and the current phase is between Stevenson Street South and Victoria Road South.


This part of the project is expected to be done by fall 2024 – a year-and-a-half after it

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K-SURE, Canada’s EDC Collaborate on Business Investment Forum

Baek Seung-dal (front row fourth from left), deputy president of Korea Trade Insurance Corporation; Sven List (front row fifth from left), senior vice president corporate and international of Export Development Canada, and other participants of the Korea-Canada Project Exploration and Investment Collaboration Business Forum pose for a group photo at the event held in the Four Seasons Hotel in Seoul on Oct. 25.
Baek Seung-dal (front row fourth from left), deputy president of Korea Trade Insurance Corporation; Sven List (front row fifth from left), senior vice president corporate and international of Export Development Canada, and other participants of the Korea-Canada Project Exploration and Investment Collaboration Business Forum pose for a group photo at the event held in the Four Seasons Hotel in Seoul on Oct. 25.


The Korea-Canada Project Exploration and Investment Collaboration Business Forum was held at the Four Seasons Hotel in the Jongno district of Seoul on Oct. 25.


The Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (K-SURE) held a joint meeting with the Export Development Canada (EDC) on Oct. 25 to strengthen the export and investment collaboration between South Korean and Canadian companies.


This event marked the first joint effort between the two major national export support institutions since the establishment of the EDC’s Korean office. It witnessed the participation of 15 companies from both nations, including South Korean firms venturing into the North American market in sectors such as battery separators and Small Modular Reactors (SMR), as well as Canadian clean energy enterprises.


Both organizations discussed Canada’s primary national strategic initiatives, project exploration opportunities, and provided insights for Korean firms aiming to enter the North American market, considering investing in Canada. They touched upon Canada’s “Key Mineral Strategy” to transform itself into a global supply chain hub for stable eco-friendly and digital industries, as well as points of attention during the permitting process, negotiations with indigenous communities, and other considerations for Korean firms planning market entry into North America.


A financial support case was also highlighted. Solus Advanced Materials, a battery material company that attended the event, is expected to contribute to the stability of the North American battery

The Latest News, Headlines, and Business Stories for September 12

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Hiya! Getting old is relating to this grandmother who swallowed an AirPod instead of her vitamins while she was distracted. 

Speaking of Big Tech, it’s a big day for the industry as the DOJ’s antitrust trial against Google starts today. More in today’s big story about the massive implications of the case. 

What’s on deck: 

But first, we’re going to trial.


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Google

Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images



The big story

“Google it.”

The phrase has become shorthand for looking something up on the internet, and it’s no surprise why. Google is the default search engine almost everywhere you look, from your phone to computers or tablets. 

Even if you don’t start your search at the tech giant’s website, there’s a good chance you’ll eventually get redirected there. 

And it’s no coincidence that’s the case. Google has spent billions of dollars ensuring it’s the go-to search engine. 

It’s also a strategy the Department of Justice argues is “anticompetitive and exclusionary” in a landmark trial for Big Tech kicking off today.

Insider’s Hugh Langley, our resident Google expert, details what’s at stake in the antitrust case between the DOJ and Google. The trial is the biggest to hit the tech industry since the government sued Microsoft in the late 1990s.

Back then, the DOJ alleged Microsoft was forcing PC manufacturers to make its Internet Explorer the default browser on their computers, thereby stifling competition. 

Starting today, the DOJ will argue Google squashed its competition by paying Apple and others to be the default search provider, all

Tata Comm aims $1 bn US business in 3 years

New Delhi: Tata Communications Ltd aims to grow its US business to $700 million-1 billion in three years, making it the company’s largest business after India, a top executive said.

Integration of its acquisition of The Switch Enterprises that has premium clients, and the contribution of enterprise clients and hyperscalers to its connectivity business are expected to drive the growth.

“After India, the US will turn out to be the second biggest market for us,” Amur S. Lakshminarayanan, managing director and chief executive officer said in an interview. He pointed to the hyperscalers and service providers it works with, and its acquisitions of Switch and Kaleyra in the US.

“Our ambition would be how we make the US business to be $700 million-1 billion business kind of a size in the medium term, which is three years,” he said.

While the company now segregates revenues for India and the international markets, it will begin to provide individual revenues for large international markets including the US in the coming quarters.

In FY23, Tata Communications posted a revenue of 18,201 crore and for the six months ended September 2023, it recorded a revenue of 9,857 crore.

Lakshminarayanan said the US market’s current contribution to overall revenue was far below $500 million, the halfway mark of the revenue expected from the American business in three years.

However, he intends to increase the share of revenue coming from international markets where it now holds a challenger position in the communications platforms and connected infrastructure solutions, with high-value, prestigious clients such as Formula One and banks.

“We are seeing increasing traction with customers across all our platforms, after the acquisitions,” he said.

Tata Communications is also investing in AI in products and solutions such as voice platforms that it provides to enterprises, where

Microsoft’s A.I. Investment Stabilizes Its Cloud Business

Microsoft on Tuesday reported strong sales in its latest quarter, showing that its corporate customers have been shaking off jitters about spending heavily in the uncertain economy.

The results also showed early signs that the company’s investments in generative artificial intelligence were beginning to bolster sales, most notably reversing what had been slowing growth of the company’s important cloud computing product.

The company had $56.5 billion in sales in the three months that ended in September, up 13 percent from a year earlier. Profit hit $22.3 billion, up 27 percent. The results beat analyst expectations and Microsoft’s own estimates.

Microsoft had told investors that A.I. wouldn’t start producing meaningful results until after the start of 2024, when more products became widely available. The company and its competitors are racing to put generative A.I. into nearly every product they offer. Microsoft is seen by many companies as a leading A.I. provider, thanks to its partnership with — and $13 billion investment in — the start-up OpenAI, which introduced the chatbot ChatGPT almost a year ago.

Microsoft’s flagship cloud computing product, Azure, grew 29 percent, up from 26 percent in the previous quarter. About three percentage points of Azure’s growth came from generative A.I. products, including the access Microsoft provides to OpenAI’s GPT-4 language model, more than the company had told investors to expect.

More than 18,000 organizations are using Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI services, Satya Nadella, the company’s chief executive, said in a call with investors. He said that included customers who had not used Azure before.

“Azure again took share as organizations took their workloads to our cloud,” Mr. Nadella said.

Investors sent Microsoft’s share price up about 4 percent in after-hours trading. The company said that sales could increase as much as 8.7 percent in the current quarter, exceeding investor