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Good morning. A 2,000-pound sea lion named Chonkers — who is about three times the size of an average California sea lion — has won over the hearts of San Francisco residents since he plopped onto Pier 39 a month ago. The sturdy sea lion seems to really love his new home (possibly a little too much): locals say that Chonkers hasn’t left the pier since arriving.

Like a dad glued to his recliner, there’s something beautiful about finding your spot and simply refusing to leave.

Today’s reading time is 5½ minutes.

MARKETS

▼	TSX	33,904.11	-0.03%
▲	S&P 500	7,165.08	+0.80%
▼	DOW JONES	49,230.71	-0.16%
▲	NASDAQ	24,836.6	+1.63%
▲	GOLD	4,740.9	+0.36%
▼	OIL	94.4	-1.51%
▲	CAD/USD	0.73	+0.12%
▲	BTC/USD	78,290.33	+1.02%

Earnings to watch: It’s a high-stakes earnings week for Big Tech. Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta all report on Wednesday, while Apple follows on Thursday. The five companies combined make up a quarter of the S&P 500’s entire market cap, so their results could puncture — or turbocharge — the recent market rally.

GOVERNMENT

Manitoba is rolling out Canada’s first youth social media ban

Source: Unsplash.

Kids in Manitoba are about to find out what it was like growing up in a world without TikTok or ChatGPT.

What happened: In a Canadian first, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew announced that the province will implement a ban on social media and AI chatbots for minors, though he didn’t specify the age of the ban or how it will be enforced.

The federal government is also “very seriously” considering similar regulations on social media and AI chatbots, according to Heritage Minister Marc Miller.

Why it matters: Countless studies now show social media’s negative effects on children’s mental health and development. The real question is whether governments can make an outright ban work in practice. So far, the answer has been: not really.

Australia, which enacted a first-of-its-kind social media ban for kids under 16 in December, has struggled to enforce it. According to a report last month, 70% of Australian kids who had a social media account pre-ban still have access to it.
The report found that the age-verification systems being used by tech companies in Australia are deeply flawed, and that some platforms have even encouraged kids to retry verification several times until they eventually get approved.

Zoom out: Australia has largely relied on tech giants to police the ban (with only the thin threat of a fine to motivate them), but other countries are taking a different approach. The EU, which is considering a bloc-wide youth social media ban, is rolling out its own age-verification system that works like a passkey to access online services. If it proves to be effective, it could become the gold standard globally and serve as a more robust system to enforce age restrictions online.—LA

BIG PICTURE

Source: Shutterstock.

Ticketmaster takes down resale tickets in Ontario. To comply with a new provincial law that bans the sale of tickets for more than their original price, Ticketmaster has delisted all resale tickets in Ontario and will reopen the market this week with the new restrictions. Rivals StubHub and SeatGeek have both opposed the law, and resale tickets are still available on both platforms. A representative for StubHub said they are waiting for more guidance from Ontario before making changes. (CBC News)

U.S.-Iran ceasefire hopes dwindle after Trump calls off talks. The U.S. president cancelled plans for an envoy to travel to Pakistan for another round of negotiations with Iran on a peace deal. When Trump was asked by reporters whether the cancelled trip meant the war would resume, he said, "It doesn't mean that. We haven't thought about it yet." (BBC News)

Google backs Anthropic with another US$40 billion investment. A few days after Amazon invested $5 billion into the AI startup, Alphabet announced plans to pump up to $40 billion into Anthropic, beginning with an initial $10 billion investment at a $350 billion valuation. Google was an early backer of Anthropic, investing $300 million in 2023 and has since built a 14% stake in the company. (CNBC)

📡 What else is on our radar:

The suspected gunman who opened fire at the White House correspondents dinner wrote a manifesto calling Donald Trump a traitor and a criminal.
Canada and Mexico have agreed to closely co-ordinate their CUSMA negotiation efforts.
The U.S. Justice Department dropped its investigation into Fed chair Jerome Powell.

LOOKOUT

What’s happening this week

Source: Bank of Canada.

🏦 Interest rate decisions in Canada and the U.S. The Bank of Canada is expected to hold rates steady on Wednesday. Inflation is picking up because of higher energy costs, but until that starts bleeding into other sectors of the economy, expect the Bank to look through what is (hopefully) a temporary supply shock. South of the border, the Federal Reserve is also expected to announce on Wednesday that it’s leaving interest rates untouched.

🇨🇦 Feds announce Spring Economic Update. The federal government will issue its Spring Economic Update (which used to be issued in the fall). It’s not likely to contain anything too exciting in terms of new policy, but will paint a picture of how the war in Iran and the government’s recent spending changes — like a defence budget surge — are impacting the country’s bottom line.

💼 First Berkshire meeting without Buffett. Edmonton-born Greg Abel will helm Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting in Omaha for the first time as CEO this week after taking over for Warren Buffett at the start of the year. Abel could face some uncomfortable questions, as its stock has underperformed the S&P 500 by around 40 points over the past 12 months.

ECONOMY

Hodgson says up to 10 new major projects coming

Source: @timhodgsonmt / X.

Got a great idea for a large-scale infrastructure project in Canada’s national interest? It may be worth sending Energy Minister Tim Hodgson your pitch, because he’s shopping.

What happened: Hodgson promised that “at least five to 10” new projects would be added to the federal government’s Major Projects list and reach the final investment decision stage by this time next year.

Hodgson flagged improving the electrical grid and expanding nuclear energy as top priorities for the government, and pledged to advance the pipeline from Alberta to B.C. as part of the Canada-Alberta memorandum of understanding agreed upon with Premier Danielle Smith.

Catch up: So far, 15 projects have been referred to the Major Projects Office, which was set up last year to speed up approvals for infrastructure projects deemed to be in the national interest.

Nearly all of those have already been in the works for years and — with a few exceptions — aren’t expected to be completed until at least the 2030s.

Why it matters: The federal government has staked much of its economic strategy on advancing major projects and the boom in jobs, investment, and exports that’s expected to create. To realize those benefits, though, they’ll need to not only add new projects, but start breaking ground on more of the ones they’ve already undertaken.—TS

ONE BIG NUMBER

🏃 1:59:30. London Marathon time posted by Kenyan runner Sebastian Sawe, who beat the world record by 65 seconds and became the first person ever to run a marathon in under two hours. Just as impressive, Ethiopian runner Yomif Kejelcha, who was running in his first-ever marathon, also broke the two-hour mark, finishing just 11 seconds behind Sawe.