National Business

CALGARY — North American natural gas prices continued their downward slide this week, in spite of frigid winter conditions that gripped much of the continent. Even as natural gas-fired furnaces blazed in homes and businesses across the U.S.

TORONTO — Some of the most active companies traded Friday on the Toronto Stock Exchange: Toronto Stock Exchange (20,906.52, up 149.79 points): Royal Bank of Canada. (TSX:RY). Finance. Up $1.29, or 0.97 per cent, to $133.81 on 12.0 million shares.

TORONTO — Strength in financial, utilities and technology stocks helped the TSX gain almost 150 points Friday, while U.S. markets broadly rose on the back of technology, with the S&P 500 rallying 1.2 per cent to hit a new all-time record high.

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street returned to record heights Friday to cap a punishing, two-year round trip dogged by high inflation and worries about a recession that seemed inevitable but hasn’t arrived.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan became the fifth country in history to reach the moon when one of its spacecrafts without astronauts successfully made a soft landing on the lunar surface early Saturday.

TORONTO — The head of Canada's banking regulator says he's ramping up scrutiny of money laundering in the financial sector as risks increase.

MONTREAL — Engine supplier Honeywell International Inc. must negotiate with Bombardier Inc. on the cost of the jet engines it rolls out for the Montreal-based plane maker, a Quebec Superior Court judge has ruled.

TORONTO — Wayfair says about 50 Canadians are part of a layoff impacting 1,650 employees at the home goods company. Spokesperson Susan Frechette says the 50 Canadians are all in Ontario.

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Business and political elites descended on the Swiss Alpine snows of Davos to suss out “rebuilding trust” in a splintering world.

Canada's holiday sales period got underway in November with a 0.2 per cent decline in retail sales led by falling purchases at food and beverage retailers.