📈 Holiday splurge

Good morning. A new analysis found that constantly multitasking makes our brains do about 32 hours' worth of work every day. This ‘time multiplier’ doesn’t just extend to juggling projects at work — apparently, just going on your phone while you watch TV forces your brain to work overtime. 

We’re not experts, but we think the antidote for this might be rawdogging some house chores. No podcasts, no talking, just pure, laser-like focus on dusting. 

Today’s reading time is 5½ minutes.

Earnings to watch: Fourth-quarter results from Canada’s Big Six banks are coming this week. Scotiabank reports on Tuesday, RBC and National Bank on Wednesday, and BMO, CIBC, and TD will close out the week with their earnings on Thursday.

Black Friday splurges may leave many Canadians in the red come the new year. 

Driving the news: Canadians spent 6% more on Black Friday shopping than last year, according to data shared with The Peak by Salesforce. That’s despite discounts remaining virtually unchanged (an average of 28%, up one percentage point from last year). 

Yes, but: Just because people bought more doesn’t necessarily mean they could afford to buy more (and who among us hasn’t been there?). The share of Canadians using Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) plans to finance their Black Friday purchases nearly doubled from last year to 5.1%. 

Why it matters: BNPL is presented at checkout as an easy way to space out payments, which feels nice at the time, but research by the Stanford Graduate School of Business shows that BNPL users often end up getting dinged down the road with hundreds of dollars of late penalties and overdraft fees.

Our take: Almost two-thirds of Canadians say the rising cost of living is one of their top three issues right now, and that feeling is borne out in this data. If you’re price-sensitive, waiting for Black Friday deals to make large purchases is a reasonable way to make your dollar go further. But the rise in BNPL usage points to a growing number of people who can’t really afford to make those purchases, even with a discount.—TS

B.C. Premier David Eby is open to a pipeline if the tanker ban remains. Eby said he would be open to a pipeline from Alberta to B.C.’s coast, but only if the ban on oil tanker traffic off the province’s north coast remains in place. Ultimately, the federal government could force the project through over Eby’s objections, but Prime Minister Carney would rather have the province on board.

U.S. says Venezuelan airspace is closed. Donald Trump said the airspace “above and surrounding Venezuela” should be considered closed. The message, posted on Truth Social, is an escalation of an American buildup of military forces near Venezuela. 

Airbus recalled 6,000 of its planes due to a software glitch. Flights around the world were delayed and cancelled over the weekend after Airbus recalled more than half of its global fleet to fix a software glitch. Air Canada reported no disruptions because of the recall.

The U.K. will begin enforcing visa rules for Canadians in February — visitors will have to complete an online form and pay a fee of £16 to enter the country.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Israel’s president for a pardon over his involvement in three corruption cases.

You’ve shopped for everyone else—now it’s time to gift yourself something that matters: a Felix Longevity test, revealing your biological age and actionable insights to live longer, healthier.

Felix Longevity analyzes 35+ key health markers to reveal your biological age: how well your body is actually aging.

Until now, this level of testing was reserved for executive health programs costing thousands. Felix has been making it our mission to make it accessible for all at $299 (normally $499!).

Almost 9 in 10 Felix users discover some kind of abnormality in their results. Most people think they’re healthy—until they see what’s happening under the hood.*

Here's the Felix difference:

Save $200 on a Longevity test today.

*Data reflects the mean outcome of participating Complete Longevity Felix patients, as of November 10, 2025. Always consult with a licensed healthcare practitioner for personalized medical guidance. Individual results are not guaranteed and may vary.

LOOKOUT

🇺🇦 Ukrainian officials in Florida for negotiations. Top aides to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are in the U.S. to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss a possible end to Russia’s war in Ukraine. The initial U.S. proposal was reportedly drafted with significant Russian input, and Ukraine and its allies are pushing for changes to the terms. Even if the Ukrainian and U.S. teams agree on a new plan, Russia will still need to sign on, and it’s not clear if that is a realistic possibility.

📊 Last jobs report before rate decision. The November jobs report drops on Friday, and will be the last major piece of data released before the Bank of Canada’s December 10th interest rate call. The economy added more jobs than expected in both September and October, but forecasters expect employment to have been flat in November. As it stands, the central bank is likely to keep interest rates steady in December, and it would take a very disappointing report on Friday to change that.

⚽️ World Cup draw. The groups for next year’s World Cup, hosted jointly by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico (who were all getting along better when they planned this whole thing), will be drawn by FIFA on Friday. For the first time in tournament history, the top four seeded teams — that’s Spain, Argentina, France, and England —  will be guaranteed not to play each other until at least the semi-finals. 

🚩 What else is on our radar: Sales data from today’s Cyber Monday deals, Oxford University Press will announce its word of the year (contenders include “aura farming” and “rage bait”), and the Hudson's Bay royal charter from 1670 hits the auction block on Wednesday with bidding expected to start at $18 million.

One small step for man, one giant leap for automakers moonlighting as rocket scientists. 

Driving the news: Honda is stepping up its efforts to build a reusable rocket, a project developed by the automaker’s little-known, but already successful, space division. In June, Honda launched and landed its prototype rocket, a major feat given that it has only been in the works for six years (SpaceX took about 15 years to launch and re-land a rocket). 

Catch-up: Honda’s R&D department has a serious track record for developing new technologies — it built the world’s first in-car navigation tool and one of the first autonomous driving systems. Some of its tech actually proves to be more useful outside of cars.

Why it matters: Honda could eventually use the reusable rocket to launch its own satellites into orbit, giving it control over the infrastructure that underpins driverless vehicle software.

Bottom line: Honda isn’t likely to challenge SpaceX’s quasi-monopoly in the commercial space sector, but it could carve out a niche for powering autonomous driving systems, not just for its own cars, but also for its competitors.—LA

🇨🇦$18.2 billion. Total foreign investment in Canada last quarter, the lowest amount in a year and a half. For the second straight quarter, Canadian investments abroad eclipsed the total investment dollars coming into the country. We guess our friends aren’t returning the favour.

^{*This is sponsored content.}

Kick your feet up and settle in with today’s mini-crossword!