Chill pill

Markets: Canada’s main stock index hit a record high yesterday. It was led by the materials sector, which capitalized on higher gold prices stoked by the arrest of Nicolás Maduro. A 3.6% drop-off in Canadian energy shares offset some of these gains.

Weight-loss treatments are now as easy as taking a Flintstones gummy with breakfast.  

What happened: Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk launched the world’s first GLP-1 weight-loss pill yesterday in the U.S., beating its rival Eli Lilly to what’s expected to be the next frontier of the lucrative obesity drug market. Eli Lilly is still waiting for its own pill to be approved in the U.S. 

Why it matters: Price aside, simply swapping needles for a pill could be enough to convert and attract customers. One study found that over 75% of adults with Type 2 diabetes would prefer a daily pill over a weekly injectable treatment. 

Our take: Canada is the first major market in the world to allow generic versions of weight-loss drugs. While that seemed like a big deal back when they couldn’t even make enough Ozempic to keep up with demand, a pill at a similar price point — generic versions of Wegovy injections are expected to land at ~$135 a month — could leave these long-awaited generic injectables without many takers. 

Bottom line: Ozempic is already the bestselling prescription drug in Canada, and with more affordable products flooding the market, demand for weight loss drugs is poised to skyrocket.—LA

Nicolás Maduro made his first court appearance. The recently captured Venezuelan President pleaded not guilty to a myriad of drug, weapons, and terrorism charges in New York yesterday. Maduro’s lawyers are expected to argue that, as the head of a sovereign state, he is immune from prosecution. Meanwhile, Ali Moshiri, a former top exec at Chevron, is reportedly raising US$2 billion to fund new Venezuelan oil projects. That sure didn’t take long. (CBC News)

Saks Global is looking for a $1 billion loan to stay afloat. The luxury retailer, which was owned by Hudson's Bay Company before a 2024 spinoff, could file for bankruptcy in the next few weeks. Not dissimilar to its now-shuttered Canadian counterpart, Saks has struggled with sluggish sales as of late. Its CEO, Mark Metrick, resigned last week. (Bloomberg News) 

Nearly 150 countries signed a new global corporate tax deal. The OECD-led amendment weakens an earlier agreement that aimed to stop large companies from parking their profits in countries with low tax rates, like the Cayman Islands. Under the new deal, major U.S. multinationals will be exempted from the global 15% corporate tax. (Globe and Mail)

Chrystia Freeland is now an economic advisor to Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky tapped the former finance minister to serve as an official advisor to the Ukrainian government. Freeland could be forced to resign her seat in Parliament as a result, triggering a byelection in Toronto. 

Minnesota governor Tim Walz abandoned his re-election bid. The former vice-presidential candidate won’t seek re-election this year after a welfare fraud scandal created a storm of controversy around Walz and the state’s government.—LA

There’s anywhere from a 10% to 30% chance that a devastating earthquake will hit the West Coast within the next 50 years. Canadian insurers are now asking the feds to get ahead of it.

Driving the news: Ottawa launched a consultation with federally regulated property and casualty insurers on how to fortify the industry in the face of a future catastrophic earthquake. Insurers will use this face-to-face as an opportunity to pitch a federal backstop for the industry.

Catch-up: Between California and Vancouver Island, there’s a tectonic region called the Cascadia subduction zone, which is estimated to produce a massive earthquake dubbed “the Big One” every 200 to 800 years. The last such quake occurred in 1700, meaning those tectonic plates are primed to go off eventually. The result will be an event that could top 9.0 magnitude.  

Why it matters: Last month, an Insurance Bureau of Canada study found that a 9.0-magnitude quake could cost insurers ~$52.6-billion. That’s over 11 times more expensive than the current record-holder for priciest Canadian natural disaster, and potentially enough to capsize the entire industry.

Bottom line: We understand if insurers going under sounds like the world’s smallest violin playing to your ears, but the consequences could be dire, resulting in uncovered claims for Canadians struck by a historic disaster and knock-on effects for the banking sector.—QH

What they’re saying: “We cannot control the White House, nobody can. But we can control the levers of our economy, and that’s why the defence industrial strategy is so important,” Canada’s industry minister Mélanie Joly told Bloomberg in an interview. 

Why it matters: The feds are aiming to do as much of their ramped-up defence spending as possible within Canada’s borders. Currently, Joly’s mind is fixed on fighter jets. She’s meeting with Lockheed Martin execs later this month, where she will pressure them to put forward a deal involving its F-35 jets that competes with a rival offer from Sweden’s Saab to build its jets in Canada.

🐟 US$3.2 million. Sale price of a tuna that was sold at the Tokyo fish market yesterday, a record high. The buyer of the 243-kilogram fish — an owner of a local sushi chain — actually broke his own record that he set in 2019 when he paid $2.1 million for a tuna.

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