📈 Avert your eyes

Good morning. On this day 25 years ago, Apple launched iTunes, the digital media library and store that changed the course of music consumption, before falling by the wayside in the streaming era. 

Some folks still use it, though. According to the Washington Post, 11.1 million people in the U.S. bought music on the iTunes Store in August of last year. And hey, with 2010 nostalgia coming into force, maybe it can make a comeback just like wired headphones.  

Today’s reading time is 5½ minutes.

Markets: Canada’s main stock index was on the up yesterday, as the energy sector shook off Venezuelan oil concerns and rallied. Meanwhile, shares of Canadian spacetech firm MDA Space were up 6.6% after it signed a contract with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency.

Like McDonald’s throwing money at nutrition research, Rogers is now looking to clean up a mess it’s helped make. 

What happened: Rogers will spend $50 million over the next five years as part of a national school program aimed at curbing kids' screen time. The telecom will finance grants that incentivize physical activity and run annual studies looking at students' screen activity.  

Why it’s happening: More research has found that kids spending too much time on devices has a direct correlation to worse mental health, sleep, and performance in school. 

Why it matters: A PSA from Rogers is unlikely to sway too many kids, but this program is a pretty damning acknowledgment — from a company that directly profits from Canadians spending more time online — that too much screen time can be genuinely harmful. 

Zoom out: New ideas are being trialled around the world to tackle excessive screen time. Australia just banned social media for kids under 16, while China is looking to limit kids to two hours of phone use a day. In Canada, most provinces have rolled out a cellphone ban in schools, while Quebec has considered a similar social media ban for kids under 16.—LA

Rio Tinto and Glencore could link up to create the world's biggest miner. The two sides are in early talks on a potential US$70 billion merger, which would create one company with a firm grip on Canadian critical minerals. The companies previously held merger talks in 2024, which fizzled out. They’ve decided to reignite their courtship amid a period of increased consolidation in the mining sector (see: Anglo American and Teck). (Globe and Mail) 

Ontario is building an underwater cable connecting a nuclear plant to Toronto. The province approved a plan to spend $1.5 billion on an underwater 65-kilometre-long cable called the Third Line that will connect the Darlington nuclear power plant in Clarington to Toronto. With the city’s electricity demand potentially doubling within 20 years, the line is meant to bolster its power supply. (Globe and Mail) 

Trump is pulling the U.S. further away from the global order. After putting the fate of NATO into question with Greenland annexation talk, Donald Trump has set his sights on the UN. The president signed an executive order ending U.S. participation in 66 international organizations, 31 of which are UN bodies, focused on issues like climate change and labour. (Associated Press) 

A new paper questions the lasting effects of weight-loss drugs. On average, patients who stop using anti-obesity drugs gain back the weight they lost within two years, according to a new analysis of 37 studies. (Financial Times)

Microsoft is making an AI shopping push. Microsoft launched a new feature for Copilot in the U.S. that lets users complete retail transactions without having to exit the AI assistant. It comes complete with Shopify, PayPal, Stripe, and Etsy integrations. (Axios) 

General Motors is feeling the EV blues. The automaker said it will post a $7.1 billion loss for Q4 of last year, $6 billion of which stems directly from overhauling its EV plans amid weakened demand. (CNBC)

Photonic raised $180 million in new funding. The Canadian quantum computing company now has a multi-billion-dollar valuation after closing a funding round led by climate-focused firm Planet First Partners, with support from Telus, RBC, and Microsoft. Photonic expects to raise more money soon and is set to become cash-flow positive.

Why it matters: Photonic is one of the shining stars of Canada’s blossoming quantum industry, showing particular promise as a commercially scalable operation thanks to its unique silicon architecture and capital efficiency. If Photonic can turn this into actual practical services for customers (a big if, admittedly) it could become a Canadian tech giant. 

The next big play in private equity? Lumpy dairy products.  

What happened: Consumer-focused PE firm L Catterton is claiming a majority stake in Good Culture, a cottage cheese brand whose sales have surged by ~300% over the past three years. The deal values the brand at over US$500 million, per the Wall Street Journal.

Big picture: Cottage cheese has staged a grocery aisle glow-up in recent years, going from an ick-inducing gloop associated with the elderly and unlucky schoolchildren to TikTok’s favourite protein-packed superfood. It’s so popular that producers have trouble keeping up.

In Canada: Good Culture isn’t available, so domestic brands are reaping the rewards and achieving a new level of cultural cachet. Take Nordica brand cottage cheese, which just last month became the “Official Cottage Cheese of Hockey Canada” — what an honour!

Why it matters: Cottage cheese owes its revival not to the restaurant industry, but to creative home chefs who found ways to make a stale product more appetizing. It shows how consumer trends are still regularly driven from the bottom up, not from the top down.—QH

🇨🇦 67.3%. The share of Canada’s exports that went to the U.S. in October, the lowest level on record outside of the pandemic. Tariffs have weighed on U.S. exports, although CUSMA has left Canada with a comparably low effective tariff rate of between 5 and 7%. 

What a lineup we have today: The Peak’s Weekly News Quiz, today’s mini-crossword, and the daily sudoku.

And for our helpful game testers, the bonus mini. Please keep reporting any bugs or errors you encounter to us, as we continue to make updates.