Author: Press Room

U.S. consumer sentiment swooned in March to a more than two-year low, with a preliminary gauge released by the University of Michigan proving far weaker than economists had expected.The preliminary results show the index fell to 57.9, compared with 64.7 a month ago, according to the Friday report. The reading marks the lowest level since November of 2022, researchers that compile the data said. Economists had expected consumer confidence to hold relatively steady, according to financial-data company FactSet. The results are “a reflection of the Great Uncertainty around the economic policies put forward by the Trump administration,” commented Carl Weinberg at High Frequency…

The federal government took aim on Friday at a small project that helps students seeking business school degrees, along with 45 graduate programs across the country involved with it, as part of a Trump administration promise to dismantle diversity programs.The target is a program called the Ph.D. Project, and its stated mission is to promote the racial diversity of professors in the nation’s business schools, with the idea of “enriching education for all.”The schools named in the investigation include Ivy League institutions like Yale and Cornell and public universities like Ohio State and Arizona State. The Ph.D. project, based in…

The Nova Scotia government’s plan to double a deed transfer tax for non-resident homebuyers needs to be reconsidered, says the association for the province’s Realtors. Increasing the tax would effectively add a “tariff” on Canadian buyers at a time when the country is trying to reduce internal trade barriers, says Suzanne Gravel, who will assume the presidency of the Nova Scotia Association of Realtors at the end of March.The 2025-26 provincial budget would increase the tax to 10 per cent from five per cent as of April 1, with officials estimating the increase would raise an additional $13 million.“Nova Scotia has just shut the door” on out-of-province buyers, Gravel said in an interview Friday.“If they want to buy a cottage property … they are going to think twice about where they are going to go, if not financially…

St Patrick’s Day Parade and FairHighgateDon your best green threads today and head down to Birdwood Square (opposite the Brisbane Hotel) for the annual St Pat’s day fair and parade. There will be lots of family-friendly activities, a parade and Irish dancing. It all kicks off at 10am. Dogs on leads welcome.Leederville Precinct LeedervilleKicking things off today, and continuing until Monday, Leederville is turning green this weekend. Servo is serving up Irish breakfasts until 11.30am, and Irish Spice Bags are also on the menu. There will be $12 pints throughout the precinct and $10 Jameson and mixers.St Patrick’s Day Raceday…

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading. Rubrik — The data management stock surged 25% after fourth-quarter results surpassed analyst expectations. Rubrik lost 18 cents per share, narrower than the consensus forecast for a loss of 39 cents from analysts polled by LSEG. The California-based firm posted $258 million in revenue, which also beat Wall Street’s estimate of $233 million Ulta Beauty — Shares moved 12.3% higher following the beauty retailer’s fourth-quarter financial results. Ulta’s earnings were $8.46 per share, beating the $7.12 per share expected from analysts polled by LSEG. Revenue came in at $3.49 billion, topping…

The Michigan House of Representatives voted on a resolution to urge the Michigan High School Athletic Association to follow President Donald Trump’s executive order and ban transgender athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports.”Allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports in defiance of a federal executive order could put female athletes in Michigan at risk for injury, threatens the safety and fairness of competitions and undermines the intent of Title IX,” the resolution read, via the Detroit Free Press.Sixty-six people voted in favor of the resolution as opposed to 43 nays; eight of the yays were Democrats, who…

Weakness in sentiment reflects a deterioration in expectations for the future across multiple facets of the economy, including personal finances, employment, inflation.Consumer sentiment in the United States has plunged to a nearly two-and-a-half-year low, and inflation expectations have soared amid worries that President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, which have ignited a trade war, would boost prices and undercut the economy. The deterioration in sentiment in March and inflation expectations reported by the University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers on Friday were across political party affiliations with consumers saying “frequent gyrations in economic policies make it very difficult for consumers to…

Senator Chuck Schumer’s sudden decision on Thursday to support a Republican-written bill to avert a government shutdown so enraged his fellow Democrats that some were already talking about primary challenges to the 74-year-old Democratic leader from New York.The eruption of anger about Mr. Schumer’s seeming surrender thrust into public view a generational divide that has emerged as one of the Democratic Party’s deepest and most consequential rifts.Younger Democrats are chafing at and increasingly complaining about what they see as the feebleness of the old guard’s efforts to push back against President Trump. They are second-guessing how the party’s leaders —…

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The top diplomat of the U.S. government on Friday defended U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated call to make Canada the 51st state, calling it an economic “argument” that “stands for itself” while speaking on Canadian soil. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was repeatedly pressed by reporters at the conclusion of the G7 foreign ministers summit in Charlevoix, Que., about whether he agrees with Trump’s comments, which have escalated amid a growing trade war to include calling the Canada-U.S. border an “artificial line.”“The Canadian government has made their position, how they feel about it [annexation] clear, and the president has made…