El Salvador’s credit rating was upgraded by S&P Global Ratings, which cited the government’s effort to rework its short-term, local debt obligations, Bloomberg reported. S&P raised the Central American nation’s debt rating to B- from CCC+ on Tuesday, putting it six levels into junk and on par with Ecuador and Nigeria. The outlook is stable. “The government’s recent program to gradually refinance its short-term debt with local banks will reduce rollover needs and mitigate the risk of a default over the next two years,” analysts led by Patricio Vimberg wrote.

A Vancouver music store has fallen victim to an apparent fraud scheme that has put the future of the business at risk, Global News reported. Exile Electronics, located on Main Street, said it was hit by three massive fraudulent transactions after barely squeaking by in recent years. “The (fraudulent) sales happened last October (in 2022) and we found out about them in January,” Chris Young, Exile’s co-owner, said. The customer said a local show needed some specific gear. “They were not things we stocked, but they were things that would be good sales for us,” said Young.

The Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart on Monday, pulling back from an almost-three-week high, as financial markets globally consolidated last week's sharp moves, Reuters reported. The loonie was trading 0.2% lower at 1.3680 to the greenback, or 73.10 U.S. cents, after touching its strongest intraday level since Oct. 18 at 1.3630. Last week, the currency posted its biggest weekly gain since March after data showing a slowdown in U.S. job growth bolstered expectations that the Federal Reserve is finished raising interest rates.

Canadian market participants expect the Bank of Canada (BoC) to start cutting its key policy rate from a 22-year high of 5.00% in April 2024, a month later than the previous forecast, according to a survey released by the central bank on Monday, Reuters reported. The survey showed that a median of 27 financial participants expect interest rates to drop to 4.00% in the fourth quarter of 2024, up from an expectation of 3.50% in the previous survey released in July. The survey was conducted from Sept.

The owner of Quebec’s main flyer distributor announced on Friday it will end the 45-year-old service, forcing more than 50 beleaguered local newspapers to rethink their strategy as well, the Eckville Echo reported. Starting in May, Montréal-based packaging and printing company TC Transcontinental plans to scrap the flyer bundles, known in Quebec as Publisac — distributed to 2.5 million households outside the city as part of a shift to a thin leaflet delivered by Canada Post.

U.S. businesses want certainty over the future of Washington's flagship trade program for Africa as they reduce their dependence on China and consider investing on the continent, a Biden administration official said on Saturday, Reuters reported. In the wake of the global pandemic and the supply chain headaches it provoked, companies across a range of industries are moving operations out of manufacturing powerhouse China in an effort to de-risk their businesses and foster resilience.

The Bank of Canada has urged banks to reconsider offering variable-rate mortgages with fixed payments, concerned about the number of borrowers faced with negative amortization of their loans, Reuters reported. “I think that product needs a close look and I think it’ll get a close look,” Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Rogers said in an interview with Bloomberg News on Friday. “I think you’ll see the industry reflect on how much they want to offer that product,” she added. Many variable-rate mortgages in Canada require borrowers to make regular payments in fixed amounts.

Canada will face rising economic uncertainty if the province of Alberta carries out a threat to withdraw from the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Friday, Reuters reported. Freeland made her remarks at a press conference after a phone call with regional finance ministers to discuss the issue. Alberta Finance Minister Nate Horner later on Friday said the province would not leave fellow Canadians without a stable pension and its associated benefits.