Canada's retail sales dropped in June, data showed on Friday, as consumers continued to feel the impact of high interest rates and cut back on discretionary purchases, Reuters reported. Retail sales, which comprise local sales of vehicles, clothing, furniture, food and beverages among other items, dropped 0.3% on a monthly basis, less than last month's 0.8% decline. The sales were pulled down primarily as fewer customers bought vehicles and automotive parts, but also by lower purchases of personal care products and sporting goods, Statistics Canada said.

Destiny Pharma Plc, a British biotech company chaired by City veteran Nigel Rudd, has appointed insolvency practitioners after failing to secure a rescue deal, Bloomberg News reported. Destiny Pharma, which earlier this month delisted from the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market, had been unable to secure a licensing partner to fund clinical trials for its most hopeful antibiotic product. It lodged an application to appoint administrators in the High Court, a form of insolvency, on Wednesday.

PwC China has informed its clients it expects a six-month business ban by Chinese authorities as early as September as part of punishment for its audit of collapsed property developer Evergrande, the Financial Times reported. The ban would prevent it from signing off on financial results and initial public offerings and from conducting other regulated activities, the report stated, citing multiple clients. PwC has been under scrutiny for its role in auditing Evergrande since the troubled property developer was accused in March of a $78-billion fraud, leading to an exodus of clients.

Canada’s two biggest railways shut down early Thursday after talks with union leaders failed, immediately blocking arteries of North American supply chains that carry about C$1 billion ($740 million) per day in trade, Bloomberg News reported. More than 9,000 employees at Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. were locked out after a deadline passed without an agreement on a new contract. Members of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference had voted to strike over a number of issues, including scheduling and worker fatigue.

Hundreds of Mexican federal judges went on strike Wednesday to protest a judicial-system overhaul that they say is an authoritarian power grab by departing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the Wall Street Journal reported. Under the proposed overhaul, judges would be required to step down and be replaced by others elected by voters. Currently, judges are appointed after a lengthy process that includes exams showing their knowledge of the law.

More than 6,400 Fisker Ocean SUVs had been delivered as of April, but if – as seems increasingly likely – Fisker goes out of business and its assets are liquidated to pay off creditors, all those vehicles and their owners could essentially be left out in the cold, the Globe and Mail reported. Fisker began delivering the Ocean SUV to Canadian customers at the end of 2023. The company hasn’t disclosed how many were sold here, but they’re a rare sight on the roads. There were issues related to customer service and vehicle reliability.

Inflation in Canada decelerated to the slowest pace in more than three years, keeping the central bank on track to cut rates for a third straight meeting next month, Bloomberg News reported. The consumer price index rose 2.5% in July from a year ago, following a deceleration to a 2.7% pace a month earlier, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday in Ottawa. That matched the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists.

The two largest Canadian railroad companies will shut down operations Thursday if no agreement is reached with their unionized workers, forcing industries to brace for billions of dollars in losses, Bloomberg News reported. Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. issued lockout notices to a union representing more than 9,000 employees at both companies, essentially starting a countdown for a nationwide work stoppage unless parties reach a last-minute deal.

China’s central bank said a meeting in Shanghai produced an agreement with the U.S. Treasury to appoint contact people to deal with any future “financial stress events,” Bloomberg News reported. The two sides also “exchanged lists of financial stability contacts” during the fifth meeting of the so-called Financial Working Group that was set up following Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s visit to China last year.

Canada's Alimentation Couche-Tard has sounded out Japan's Seven & i about a potential takeover, the two companies said on Monday, making the 7-Eleven owner the largest-ever Japanese target of a foreign buyout, Reuters reported. While the value of the offer has not been disclosed, the bid is the latest example of the growing interest in Japanese companies by Western investors, who have been drawn by the country's push for better governance.