Sentiment improved, but new tariffs weigh on business outlook: BoC report

Quebec Superior Court has rejected a motion by Amazon filed in connection with the company’s challenge to unionization efforts at shuttered Laval warehouse.

Published: October 19, 2026 at 3:39p.m. EDTBNN Bloomberg is Canada’s definitive source for business news dedicated exclusively to helping Canadians invest and build their businesses. FRANKFURT, Germany — Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang urged Germany’s makers of cars and industrial machines to quickly adopt artificial intelligence to “re-engineer” the country’s struggling business model by tapping its wealth of manufacturing data and expertise. Huang, whose company designs the powerful computer chips and software used by companies like Anthropic and OpenAI to develop AI applications, said that digital technology would never replace manufacturing and the engineering world of cars and robots where Germany has vast experience. Or, as he put it, “electrons will never replace atoms.” But he said industry would benefit by leaning into technology. Latest updates on company news here“The next wave of AI is physical. This is where AI interacts with the physical world: robotics, manufacturing, cars, heavy industry,” Huang said Monday during a discussion with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at an investment conference in Berlin. “And so AI can only augment your capability.

Published: October 19, 2026 at 3:32p.m. EDTLarry Berman discusses his outlook for the markets. The Productivity side of the AI trade is coming slowly. Those that are utilizing AI agents and tools already can see it. I believe that everyone with a computer or cell phone will have some degree of a paid monthly service for an AI assistant. The CapEx required in the coming years alone to get there can boost GDP by enough to likely avoid a recession due a Federal fiscal cliff coming after the U. S. election. Odds are increasing that democrats take both houses of Congress according to the betting markets. 2026 Midterm Elections predictions & odds | Polymarket This opens the high possibility that Trump has a tantrum and shuts the government down blaming the Democrats. While the U. S. will not default on its debt, you can bet that will come up on social media posts and add another layer of uncertainty that U. S. hegemony is in decline. Historically, markets like gridlock (Congress one party, White House opposite party). Less government manipulation has historically been a positive.

Published: October 19, 2026 at 2:57p.m. EDTLourenco Goncalves, chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Cleveland-Cliffs, joins BNN Bloomberg to discuss the Stelco layoffs and steel tariffs. The chief executive of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. says Stelco has posted its strongest quarterly results since the Ohio-based company acquired the steelmaker two years ago, even as it moves ahead with up to 500 layoffs at its Ontario operations. Lourenco Goncalves says Stelco became a “positive contributor” to Cleveland-Cliffs’ third-quarter results for the period ended Sept. 30 amid a sharp improvement in Canada’s hot-rolled steel market. However, he says more needs to be done by the Canadian government to correct “a clearly oversupplied market for galvanized steel in Canada.”Latest updates on company news hereGoncalves says without a clear plan from Ottawa aimed at improving market conditions for galvanized steel, the company made the “difficult but necessary” decision to indefinitely idle its galvanizing lines at Stelco. He says laid off workers will be called back as soon as the current situation improves.

Published: October 19, 2026 at 2:40p.m. EDTSAN FRANCISCO — A former OpenAI engineer charged with secretly installing a recording device in a conference room to glean company details had been “mere days” away from absconding to Saudi Arabia before his arrest, federal prosecutors said in new court filings. Abdulrahman Alfozan, a 35-year-old Saudi national, was also fired from his job at the ChatGPT maker, according to a government memo filed Sunday. His wife and young son left the country the day after his arrest on a one-way ticket booked and paid for by a Saudi military official, prosecutors said in the filing. “Ultimately, the defendant has little incentive to remain in the United States to see this case through,” federal prosecutors wrote. “He has ample resources —including his significant compensation from a decade of high-tech employment in the Bay Area and at least two bank accounts in Saudi Arabia — and what appears to be considerable support from a foreign government.”Prosecutors also noted Saudi Arabia has no extradition treaty with the U. S. as they seek to detain Alfozan until trial. A judge will consider the request Monday in federal court in San Francisco.

Published: October 19, 2026 at 1:59p.m. EDTOTTAWA — A federal union is speaking out against cuts to the federal translation bureau and is accusing the Carney government of hypocrisy as Ottawa defends French language standards in trade talks with the U. S. The translation bureau is a federal government service under Public Services and Procurement Canada that provides translation and interpretation services to departments and private clients. A government document containing highlights of the translation bureau’s business plan for 2025 to 2030 says the bureau plans to drop 339 employees through natural attrition over five years to ensure its financial viability. Attrition is the gradual reduction of positions through retirements and resignations. The document says the plan reflects “an overall drop” in demand for traditional translation services.