*Backstreet Boys voice* Bit. Coin’s. Back. Alright!

Driving the news: Bitcoin reached its highest mark since November of 2021 yesterday, with prices briefly eclipsing $85,000 at one point. Retail investors poured money into bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), with BlackRock’s ETF registering a single-day record inflow of US$520 million.

Debates about regulating online content and the safety of children can get… heated, to say the least. So before the yelling starts, let’s take a look at what tech companies will actually be expected to do under the Online Harms Act.

The problem: Prescribing antidepressants involves a bit of trial and error: Between 40% and 60% of patients don’t respond to the first antidepressant they’re prescribed. Studies have shown that genetics account for up to 42% of variations in how patients with similar symptoms respond differently to the same medication.

The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona has become a major event for tech companies to show off their new phones, wearables, and software features. Here’s what’s getting the most attention (and why).

In response to a crackdown on Chinese investment in Canada’s critical mineral industry, major miners are deciding to drop the “Canada” part of their business.  

What happened: According to The Globe and Mail, Canadian miner SRG Mining plans to relocate to the United Arab Emirates, a move the company said will stop a national security review that could have put the brakes on its financing deal with a Chinese energy firm.

Canadian Bank Earnings Week is under way, and while we admit it’s not as exhilarating as Shark Week, it can teach us some valuable lessons about the murky waters of the economy.

What happened: Quarterly earnings reports for Scotiabank and BMO showed that both banks are keeping more cash aside than analysts expected to cover loans that could go sour, known as loan loss provisions, continuing a trend of caution in a risky environment. 

Scores of Canadian lawyers have fled for the bright lights of New York in recent years, clearly inspired by the undying popularity of Suits.

Driving the news: The legal profession in Canada is recovering from a pandemic-era case of brain drain in which 100 to 150 mostly junior-level lawyers left Canada, per The Globe and Mail. These legal eagles mainly flew the coop from Toronto to New York City.

This year’s Oktoberfest celebrations could have a much chiller vibe, and it’s all thanks to some weed-loving lawmakers in Germany.

Driving the news: Germany is the latest country to legalize cannabis for recreational use, a move that lays the groundwork for commercial legalization by 2030 and opens the door for Canadian producers looking to cash in on weed sales within the EU’s biggest economy. 

Nowadays, you can’t even grab a sneaky little midday Mars bar without being silently judged by a dang machine.  

What happened: Students at the University of Waterloo are revolting against Mars-owned campus vending machines after discovering the machines were scanning users’ faces without their knowledge. 

Today in news that we’re sure politicians will take in super chill fashion, the federal justice minister unveiled the first draft of a long-awaited Online Harms Act.

Driving the news: The proposed legislation covers content posted to social media platforms, live streaming services, and some user-uploaded pornography sites. If passed, it would also create a new digital safety commission tasked with upholding rules, making recommendations, and receiving user complaints.  

Got a sweet tooth? Now might be a good time to replenish your personal Strategic Chocolate Reserve, because already-high prices for cocoa-based treats are only going up.

Driving the news: The chocolate industry is grappling with a record-breaking shortfall in cocoa production that’s pushed wholesale cocoa prices to an all-time high of US$6,400 per tonne.

In what’s probably the most rational decision the company’s made since changing its name from Jet Naked, Lynx Air has decided it’s time to throw in the towel. 

What happened: Budget airline Lynx Air officially stopped flying last night, winding down operations after just two years in the skies. It's the latest discount airline to fall flat in an increasingly difficult Canadian aviation market. 

 On this week’s episode of Free Lunch by The Peak, Brian Belski, chief investment strategist at BMO Capital Markets, makes a case for why he’s bullish about the year ahead in markets.  

Perhaps Canadian NHL teams looking to win the Stanley Cup could learn something from Japan’s stock market about breaking decades-long curses. 

What happened: This week, the Nikkei 225, Japan’s largest stock market index, rose to a record high for the first time in more than 34 years. It’s become the world’s best-performing major index so far in 2024, rising about 17.5% this year, and 42.4% over the past 12 months.

Nearly five months into a war between Israel and Hamas, officials in Israel, Egypt, the U.S., and Qatar are struggling to move towards a solution. 

What happened: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has put forward a post-war blueprint for Gaza that calls for an indefinite Israeli security presence in the enclave.

What are AI tokens?

The smallest units of information that AI breaks words and sentences into to make them easier to process. How many tokens an AI can process at once is called a “context window,” and it can include multiple prompts and requests, letting a system consider several things you might have told it at once.

TL;DR: Reddit is coming to the stock market.

You know what they say: bot of all trades, master of none.

Menthol cigarette bans are helping make the phrase “smoke ’em if you got ’em” obsolete. 

Driving the news: A new study on the effects of menthol cigarette bans in Canada, several U.S. states, and certain EU countries found that 24% of menthol smokers quit smoking entirely within two years of a ban, with national menthol bans being even more effective.