PRESS DIGEST-Canada

Reuters
China's COMAC to expand Shanghai C919 plane factory as orders grow
China's COMAC is expanding production facilities for its homegrown C919 jets in Shanghai, according to one of the project contractors, as the state-owned planemaker ramps up manufacturing to fulfill hundreds of new orders. China Aviation Planning and Design Institute (Group) Co. Ltd. (AVIC-CAPDI), a state-owned provider of aviation planning and construction services, said on its WeChat account at the end of April that the company had "recently won the bid for the second phase of the C919 large passenger aircraft batch production capacity construction project". AVIC-APC said the project was in Pudong, Shanghai, and had a total construction area of 330,000 square meters.
Reuters
Chinese tariffs could leave cognac makers with too much brandy
High Chinese tariffs on EU brandy would leave French companies with vast amounts of cognac that could be hard to sell elsewhere, according to Reuters' calculations, analysts, and investors who fear firms could be forced to discount. China opened an anti-dumping investigation into brandy imported from the European Union in January, sparking fears cognac could suffer a similar blow to that taken by Australian wine when China introduced tariffs of up to 218.4%. Australian wine exports to China, worth $1.1 billion in 2019, were almost completely wiped out by high tariffs.
GOBankingRates
Jaspreet Singh Says You Shouldn’t Start a Business To Get Rich — Do This Instead
Money expert Jaspreet Singh, who runs the successful financial YouTube channel, "The Minority Mindset," offers lots of advice to people who want to make a lot of money. In a recent episode, he spoke...
Reuters
Toyota to get an earnings lift from hybrids as EV hype cools
Toyota Motor is expected to get a big lift from demand for hybrids when it reports annual earnings on Wednesday, illustrating how the world's top-selling automaker is poised to benefit as hype around battery electric vehicles cools. But the forecast record results, to be helped in part by a boost from the weak yen currency, belie the considerable challenges it faces in critical markets. In China it is pressured by a ferocious price war and in the U.S., the fallout from consumers grappling with higher borrowing costs.
The Smart Investor
3 Singapore Companies That Conducted Acquisitions to Grow Their Business
We profile three Singapore businesses that announced acquisitions to grow their top and bottom lines. The post 3 Singapore Companies That Conducted Acquisitions to Grow Their Business appeared first on The Smart Investor.
The Guardian
Worried carmakers call for urgent UK help to reignite waning interest in electric vehicles
Sector wants tax cuts, better buying incentives and more electric charging points as sales in EVs stall
TechCrunch
Wayve raises $1B to take its Tesla-like technology for self-driving to many carmakers
Wayve, a U.K.-born startup developing a self-learning rather than rule-based system for autonomous driving, has closed $1.05 billion in Series C funding led by SoftBank Group. The company plans to use the fresh capital injection to develop its product for "eyes on" assisted driving and "hands off" fully automated driving and other AI-assisted automotive applications. San Francisco has become known as the epicenter for autonomous driving roll-outs, with Alphabet-owned Waymo and GM-owned Cruise both operating services in the city.
Reuters
Indian tariff suspension boosts Australian chickpeas
CANBERRA (Reuters) -Australian desi chickpea prices rose sharply after India suspended tariffs on imports, opening the door to a revival of a trade once worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Higher prices and increased demand from India will encourage farmers to plant more chickpeas in the coming months, said industry body Grains Australia. Australia, the largest exporter of chickpeas, is in pole position to benefit.
Barrons.com
Fast-Food Fight Intensifies as Consumers Pull Back. Don’t Expect Prices to Drop Soon.
The industry has been warning about declining traffic and smaller checks since last year, especially among lower-income households.
Reuters Videos
Leafhopper bug plagues Argentina's corn fields
STORY: Global warming has brought Argentina’s corn farmers a dangerous new enemy, leafhoppers.A rare plague of the tiny yellow insects has slashed millions of tons from Argentina’s harvest projections for the current crop.Agriculture and climate experts have linked the unusual outbreak in the world's No. 3 corn exporting country to rising temperatures.Leafhoppers thrive in warmer conditions.And with fewer frosts in recent years to check their spread and forecasts calling for a warm winter ahead, corn producers fear such infestations could become more regular.Here’s Cristian Russo, the head of agricultural estimates at the Rosario grains exchange.“We should be talking about an Argentine production of more than 60 million tons of corn and because of this insect we are talking about 50.5 (million tons) and about enormous concern because truth is that the autopsy, the final level of damage of this leafhopper will probably be known after the middle of the year and we all suspect that it will be much worse than what we are seeing.”Russo says leafhopper numbers in Argentina are 10 times the average level, and that they’ve been found nearly 1,000 miles south of traditional areas, where previously it has been too cold.The provincial grain exchange in the main corn region of the country has estimated leafhopper-related corn losses of $1.13 billion. Without a hard freeze this winter, one producer in the north told Reuters that leafhopper numbers will explode again next season.Some farmers have already said they will sow less corn and prioritize other crops such as soy, which is not affected by the bugs.Argentina's government did not respond to a request for comment on this story but has looked to speed authorization for pesticides to fight leafhoppers.They’ve also recently met with farm associations to discuss strategies to mitigate damage.
Reuters
Microsoft hit with Spanish startups' complaint about cloud practices
Microsoft was hit with a Spanish startup group's complaint about its cloud practices to the Spanish antitrust regulator on Tuesday, the latest grievance over its fast-growing cloud computing services and which followed a trade group's EU complaint. The U.S. tech giant ranks second in the cloud computing sector, behind market leader Amazon but is expected to close the gap rapidly as a clutch of generative AI features powered by OpenAI's technology attract business users. The Spanish Startup Association, which represents more than 700 startups in Spain, cited a number of allegedly anti-competitive practices by Microsoft in recent years.
The Guardian
Renewable energy passes 30% of world’s electricity supply
Report says humans may be on brink of cutting fossil fuel generation, even as demand for electricity rises
Reuters
Japan's service activity extends gains on solid demand, PMI shows
Japanese service sector activity grew at the fastest pace in eight months in April thanks to solid business and consumer spending, a private survey showed on Tuesday, results that should keep the central bank on track to hike rates again this year. The final au Jibun Bank Service purchasing managers' index (PMI) rose to 54.3 last month, the highest level since August 2023, and up slightly from 54.1 in March. The firms cited rising expenses from higher wages as the main reason for passing on costs to customers, a fact that won't be lost on the Bank of Japan which has for years urged firms to raise pay at a steady pace to spur consumption.
Reuters
Factbox-Chinese EV makers' plans to make cars in Europe
Some Chinese carmakers are looking to set up manufacturing and assembly plants in Europe as they aim to ramp up sales in the region of lower costs cars to rival their European competitors amid slowing demand at home, the world's largest car market. European imports of Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs) have soared in recent years, raising concerns among domestic EV producers that could suffer significant losses by a wave of cheap Chinese electric vehicles, and politicians alike.
Reuters
Italian shoemaker Tod's to court US lovers of quiet luxury
An investment firm backed by LVMH is betting demand from wealthy Americans for quiet luxury will ensure its 510 million euro ($545 million) stake in Italian shoemaker Tod's yields the double-digit returns private equity typically seeks. L Catterton, created by U.S. fund Catterton and LVMH-owner Groupe Arnault, on Friday secured sufficient shares to take Tod's private once the deal, valuing the company at just over 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion), formally concludes in the coming days. Listed in Milan but controlled by its founding Della Valle family, Tod's profitability has lagged rivals.
The Independent
Australia’s Qantas agrees to £63m payout over ‘ghost flights’
Airline advertised and sold over 8,000 flight tickets it had already cancelled in its internal system
GOBankingRates
3 Genius Things People Do With Their Investment Portfolios After Retiring
You've finally made it to retirement -- after years of working, saving, investing and handling all of life's curveballs, it's time to kick back and relax. As you look to the years ahead, though, you...
France 24
Boeing faces new FAA probe over 787 Dreamliner inspections, falsified records
US air safety authorities are investigating whether Boeing completed required plane inspections on the 787 and whether employees falsified aircraft records, officials said Monday. The issue centers on whether Boeing undertook required inspections to "confirm adequate bonding and grounding where the wings join the fuselage on certain 787 Dreamliner airplanes," the Federal Aviation Administration said in an email.The FAA said it opened the investigation after Boeing notified it that the company ma
Reuters
As climate shifts, a leafhopper bug plagues Argentina's corn fields
Global warming has brought Argentina's corn farmers a dangerous new enemy: a yellow insect just four millimeters (0.16 inch) long that thrives in hotter temperatures and is threatening harvests of the crop. Meet the leafhopper. The world's No. 3 corn exporting country has slashed millions of tons from its harvest projections for the current crop due to a rare plague of the insect that can carry a stunt disease that damages the cobs and kernels of the plant.
Reuters
Lufthansa Technik to work with Israel's Elbit on military drones
Lufthansa will work with Israeli defence firm Elbit Systems in the field of military drones via its maintenance subsidiary Lufthansa Technik as it seeks to expand its defence business, a spokesperson for the unit said on Monday. Lufthansa Technik will be responsible for maintenance and staff training, while Elbit will be in charge of the production of the drones.

Straits Times Index

S&P 500

Dow

Nasdaq

Bitcoin USD

CMC Crypto 200

FTSE 100

Gold

Crude Oil

10-Yr Bond

Nikkei

Hang Seng

FTSE Bursa Malaysia

Jakarta Composite Index

PSE Index

PRESS DIGEST-Canada - April 26

Latest stories

China's COMAC to expand Shanghai C919 plane factory as orders grow

Chinese tariffs could leave cognac makers with too much brandy

Jaspreet Singh Says You Shouldn’t Start a Business To Get Rich — Do This Instead

Toyota to get an earnings lift from hybrids as EV hype cools

3 Singapore Companies That Conducted Acquisitions to Grow Their Business

Worried carmakers call for urgent UK help to reignite waning interest in electric vehicles

Wayve raises $1B to take its Tesla-like technology for self-driving to many carmakers

Indian tariff suspension boosts Australian chickpeas

Fast-Food Fight Intensifies as Consumers Pull Back. Don’t Expect Prices to Drop Soon.

Leafhopper bug plagues Argentina's corn fields

Microsoft hit with Spanish startups' complaint about cloud practices

Renewable energy passes 30% of world’s electricity supply

Japan's service activity extends gains on solid demand, PMI shows

Factbox-Chinese EV makers' plans to make cars in Europe

Italian shoemaker Tod's to court US lovers of quiet luxury

Australia’s Qantas agrees to £63m payout over ‘ghost flights’

3 Genius Things People Do With Their Investment Portfolios After Retiring

Boeing faces new FAA probe over 787 Dreamliner inspections, falsified records

As climate shifts, a leafhopper bug plagues Argentina's corn fields

Lufthansa Technik to work with Israel's Elbit on military drones