National Business

WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumers stepped up their spending at retail stores last month, providing a boost to the economy in the early phases of the winter holiday shopping season. Retail sales rose 0.

TORONTO — The loonie fell below 70 cents US on Tuesday after the latest reading on inflation dropped below two per cent. The Canadian dollar traded for 69.91 cents US compared with 70.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes closed lower and gave back some of their stellar gains for the year. The S&P 500 fell 0.4% Tuesday, though it’s still near its all-time high set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A San Francisco jury on Tuesday found a tech consultant guilty of second-degree murder in the stabbing death of Cash App founder Bob Lee, which carries a sentence of 16 years to life, rejecting the defendant's claim that he had a

TORONTO — The brand-new board of directors at Dye & Durham Ltd. has named Hans T. Gieskes as chair of the board as well as interim CEO.

MONTREAL — Seized with a liquidity crisis, the Lion Electric Co. said Tuesday it expects to seek protection from creditors under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act.

ST. JOHN'S, N.L.

TORONTO — Ontario is investing $93 million to build a new base and buy new planes for Ornge, the province's air ambulance organization.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the pace of rent growth cooled significantly this year amid Canada's largest gain of purpose-built rental supply in more than three decades.

OTTAWA — Ottawa plans to boost penalties for anti-money-laundering oversight failures by 40 times as part of several measures it wants to roll out to crack down on the issue.