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Good morning. São Paulo, Brazil’s most populous state, passed new legislation allowing dogs and cats to be buried alongside their owners in family plots. The law was inspired by Bob Coveiro (Bob the Gravedigger), a dog who sat by his dead owner’s grave for a decade.
When Bob died, he was granted an exception allowing him to be buried with his owner, which motivated the eventual change in burial laws. Can someone please get us a tissue? We’re sobbing over here.
Today’s reading time is 5½ minutes.
MARKETS
| ▼ | TSX |
32,465.28 |
-2.37% |
|
| ▼ | S&P 500 |
6,832.76 |
-1.57% |
|
| ▼ | DOW JONES |
49,451.98 |
-1.34% |
|
| ▼ | NASDAQ |
22,597.15 |
-2.03% |
|
| ▼ | GOLD |
4,941.4 |
-3.08% |
|
| ▼ | OIL |
62.91 |
-2.66% |
|
| ▼ | CAD/USD |
0.73 |
-0.29% |
|
| ▼ | BTC/USD |
65,720.84 |
-2.69% |
Markets: Canada’s main stock index got hammered yesterday amid tech sector turmoil and plummeting gold prices; top Wall Street indexes didn’t fare much better. Meanwhile, shares of Tim Hortons owner Restaurant Brands International fell 6.3% despite posting a quarterly earnings beat.
ECONOMY
AI scare trades are officially the market trend of 2026
Source: Joshua Gesterkamp / Shutterstock.
Last week’s SaaS sell-off may have been a dam-bursting moment for the global markets.
Driving the news: Commercial real estate services stocks continued to slide yesterday, as a sell-off spread from North American markets to European ones. Investors are worried about the viability of these companies as AI threatens to render them obsolete through automation.
Analysts speculate some of the fear driving the sell-off also stems from panic that AI-related job disruptions will drive down commercial real estate demand.
Big picture: If this all sounds familiar, that’s because it happened last week with software stocks upon the release of a new Anthropic tool. It’s also been playing out with financial services and data and analytics, two areas also viewed as highly vulnerable to AI disruption.
Last week, a collection of 164 stocks across the software, financial services, and asset management sectors collectively lost $611 billion in market value — yikes.
This week, in addition to real estate stocks, wealth management firms have been particularly hard-hit after Altruist unveiled a new tool that creates tax strategies.
Why it matters: AI scare trades are poised to become the top market trend of 2026. Even as voices of reason continue to caution that total replacement by AI agents for these various industries isn’t imminent, each release this year of a new and advanced tool will trigger more dips.—QH
BIG PICTURE
Source: Erman Gunes / Shutterstock.
Loblaw wants you to order your groceries through ChatGPT. The company has integrated its PC grocery delivery app into ChatGPT, allowing shoppers to browse recipe and meal ideas within the chatbot and then order the food to their door within a few clicks. Uber Eats launched a similar AI feature earlier this week that can use a photo of a grocery list to automatically place a delivery order. (The Canadian Press)
Ottawa scraps its $250 million digital prescription tool. A national system designed to send prescriptions from doctors' offices to pharmacies has been shuttered after it proved to be less effective than a fax machine. Sounds like money well spent. (Globe and Mail)
Anthropic lands a US$380 billion valuation. The AI startup raised $30 billion in its latest funding round, more than doubling its valuation from its last raise in September. Adoption of Anthropic’s Claude has been picking up steam, cutting into rival OpenAI’s market share (and hurting their feelings with their Super Bowl ads). (Reuters)
Ontario ends its longstanding postsecondary tuition freeze. In response to declining international student enrolment, a seven-year-long freeze on university and college tuition fees for domestic students is being lifted. The province also committed $6.4 billion in additional funding for postsecondary institutions over the next four years. (The Canadian Press)
eBay Live has come to Canada. The livestream-auction hybrid launched in Canada yesterday, a feature that has been hugely popular with collectors in the U.S. and other markets. The eBay Live feature is more curated than its typical platform, prioritizing limited-edition clothing drops and expensive collectibles. (Yahoo)—LA
📡What else is on our radar:
Prime Minister Mark Carney will visit Tumbler Ridge, B.C., today to attend the vigil for the eight victims of Tuesday’s mass shooting.
Air Canada is buying eight Airbus jets for an estimated US$3 billion, with an option to double the order.
ICE’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota, which led to two deaths and mass protests, is ending.
Telus CEO Darren Entwistle is retiring after 26 years and will be replaced by former CIBC CEO Victor Dodig in July.
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DEAL OF THE WEEK
Source: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.
Apple is acquiring the rights to Severance. In a deal rumoured to cost just under US$70 million, the tech giant has bought all the rights and intellectual property of the hit sci-fi Apple TV series from production company Fifth Season. Severance, which has been renewed for a third season and is reportedly “a lock” for a fourth, will now be produced in-house by Apple.
Why it matters: Apple may have lost the AI race, but it’s still putting up a streaming war fight. Apple now has total control of its most-watched series of all time — it’s the latest of several power moves it’s made in the space, including securing U.S. Formula 1 broadcasting rights, inking a pact with NBCUniversal, and nabbing another Best Picture Oscar nomination.
Catch up on yesterday:
Mikaël Kingsbury won silver in men’s moguls, finishing the final tied for first but losing on a tiebreak. He is now the most-decorated Olympic freestyle skier ever.
Éliot Grondin won Canada’s second silver of the day in snowboard cross, missing out on gold by just three one-hundredths of a second.
Courtney Sarault won bronze in the women’s 500m short track speed skating final, securing Canada’s third speed skating medal of the Games.
Canada’s men’s hockey team looked terrifying in their first match, dismantling Czechia for a 5-0 victory.
The Canadian women’s hockey team bounced back with a 5-0 win of their own over Finland; they play Germany in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
What’s happening today:
The Canadian men’s and women’s curling teams both take on the U.S., at 3:05 a.m. Eastern and 8:05 a.m. Eastern, respectively.
Canada’s men’s hockey team plays its second preliminary match against Switzerland at 3:10 p.m. Eastern.
WORLD
Will Toronto’s transit woes derail the World Cup?
Source: Spiroview Inc / Shutterstock.
Toronto is hoping that its most unreliable form of transit can beat the odds and deliver World Cup fans a smooth experience.
Driving the news: The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is assessing improvements the Bathurst streetcar line will need ahead of the FIFA World Cup in June, according to internal documents obtained by Global News. Toronto’s matches will be held at Exhibition Place, which isn’t connected to the subway, meaning many attendees will get there via streetcar.
The TTC is looking to increase service so that cars arrive once every five minutes, which will require bolstering the streetcar’s overhead electrical cables and other vital infrastructure.
Big picture: In case any non-GTA residents aren’t aware, the streetcar is the worst piece of transit in Toronto — a wellspring of rage for transit riders and drivers alike. According to recent numbers, streetcars have a measly 55% on-time performance, compared to 73% for buses and 82% for the subway.
To many, the idea that the streetcar can be fixed — even if it’s just one line — in a matter of months is laughable, as the issues plaguing it are deep-rooted (we recommend watching this video for a comprehensive explanation).
Why it matters: The Bathurst streetcar is just one of many concerns about whether Toronto’s infrastructure is ready to handle hundreds of thousands of footie fans. If the city buckles, it could create an embarrassment for the whole country on the world stage.—QH
ONE BIG NUMBER
🧖♀️ 126%. Increase in sales for Canadian day spas during the week before Valentine's Day, according to Square payment data. Medical spa sales similarly jumped 107% during last year's V-Day, while Galentine’s-themed beauty products surged 223%.
PEAK PICKS
It appears that Drake is collaborating with McDonald's on… something.
Watch: A Porter Airlines plane slid off the Halifax airport tarmac during heavy snow.
How much tickets (and beers) cost at the Winter Olympics.
Read: How a tiny Vancouver Island distillery became the vermouth capital of the world. (Globe and Mail, paywalled)
What’s the nutritional value of a human ear? Mike Tyson is joining the Trump administration as a health advocate.
Visit the small Belgian town that launched the self-care industry.
GAMES
You’re going to want to settle in for this. First, we’ve got The Peak’s Weekly News Quiz.
Then, today’s mini-crossword, a daily sudoku, and a brand new Codebreaker, just for good measure.