National Business

TORONTO — As workers in Toronto's Financial District scurry through the Brookfield Place food court on their lunch breaks, the darkened Starbucks at the space's far end looms large.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Elon Musk took the witness stand Friday to defend a 2018 tweet claiming he had lined up the financing to take Tesla private in a deal that never came close to happening.

TORONTO — Some of the most active companies traded Friday on the Toronto Stock Exchange: Toronto Stock Exchange (20,503.21, up 161.77): Enbridge Inc. (TSX:ENB). Energy. Up 28 cents, or 0.50 per cent, to $56.02 on 12 million shares. BlackBerry Ltd.

TORONTO — Canada's main stock index was up more than 150 points Friday on broad-based gains, while U.S. markets also rose with an end-of-week rally driven by significant strength in the tech sector. The S&P/TSX composite index was up 161.

NEW YORK — A rally for tech stocks applied some salve on Wall Street’s rough week, one dominated by worries about a weakening economy. The S&P 500 rose 1.9% Friday, but still ended with its first weekly loss in the last three. The Nasdaq added 2.

TORONTO — Members of Canada's technology industry say another wave of layoffs the sector saw this week is tipping the power dynamic back in favour of employers.

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada says November saw the lowest number of employment insurance beneficiaries on record in 25 years.

Magnet Forensics Inc. says it will be bought and taken private in a $1.8-billion deal signed with Thoma Bravo, a U.S. private equity firm operating in the software sector. Waterloo, Ont.

TORONTO — Sun Life Financial Inc. says it has struck a 15-year deal to be to the exclusive provider of insurance products for Hong Kong-based Dah Sing Bank Ltd.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — U.S. home sales tumbled to the slowest pace in nearly a decade as soaring mortgage rates and sky high prices in 2022 pushed homeownership out of reach for many Americans.