National Business

TORONTO — Canada's oil patch has little to celebrate even though crude oil prices concluded their best ever month. The price of West Texas Intermediate surged 88 per cent in May as it gained 5.2 per cent Friday to reach US$35.47 per barrel.

TORONTO — A private investment company that is a major backer of Postmedia Network Corp. has agreed to provide financing for NordStar Capital's acquisition of Torstar Corp., the owner of the Toronto Star and other newspapers.

WASHINGTON — U.S. consumer spending plunged by a record-shattering 13.6% in April as the viral pandemic shuttered businesses, forced millions of layoffs and sent the economy into a deep recession.

VAUGHAN, Ont. — CannTrust Holdings Inc. says Health Canada has reinstated its licences for its greenhouse in Niagara and that it will immediately restart operations.

Canopy Growth Corp. is rethinking its first-to-every-market strategy after reporting a $1.3-billion loss in its fourth quarter. The Smith Falls, Ont.

WASHINGTON — Twitter has added a warning to one of President Donald Trump's tweets about protests in Minneapolis, saying it violated the platform's rules about “glorifying violence.

MONTREAL — Laurentian Bank Financial Group reported its second-quarter profit fell nearly 80 per cent from a year ago and it cut its dividend in a move to give it more flexibility during the COVID-19 pandemic.

EDMONTON — CWB Financial Group reported its second-quarter profit fell compared with a year ago as the economy tanked due to the steps taken to slow the COVID-19 pandemic and its provisions for credit losses more than doubled.

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada is expected to report today that economic growth swung negative in March and the first quarter as a whole due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

PARIS — Struggling French carmaker Renault on Friday announced 15,000 job cuts worldwide as part of a 2 billion-euro cost-cutting plan over three years.