National Business

CALGARY — A deal to sell its Pioneer Pipeline will help insulate Calgary-based Tidewater Midstream and Infrastructure Ltd. from a "severe downturn" that's afflicted the energy industry for the past three years, the company's CEO said Thursday.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve moved Thursday to try to ease disruptions in the financial markets stemming from the coronavirus by announcing that it will sharply increase its purchases of short-term Treasury bonds.

NEW YORK — Multi-platinum rock band Third Eye Blind had never cancelled a tour, even when its members “all had salmonella poisoning and we were all green and vomiting,” as bandleader Stephan Jenkins put it.

One of Canada's largest grocers has seen a sales bump as Canadians buy more than usual in an effort to prepare amid the growing novel coronavirus outbreak. "Our customers are obviously concerned," said Michael Medline, CEO of Empire Co.

CALGARY — Canadians can begin collecting Canada Pension Plan payments as early as age 60, but financial advisers warn it rarely makes sense to do so. And there are even fewer reasons to start drawing retirement funds early when you're still working.

FRANKFURT — The European Central Bank deployed targeted new stimulus measures to cushion the shock to the economy from the virus outbreak, but its president said monetary policy couldn't do it alone and called for a "decisive and determined” response

Some Starbucks stores in the U.S. and Canada may become drive-thru only while others could limit the number of people allowed inside, the company said, one day after the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of coronavirus a pandemic.

LOS ANGELES — The annual movie exhibition and trade show CinemaCon has been cancelled in Las Vegas due to coronavirus, scuttling one of Hollywood's premier hype machines.

DALLAS — Federal officials have grounded a charter operator that carried professional baseball and hockey teams, saying the company and its pilots weren’t authorized for the kind of commercial venture they operated.

WASHINGTON — The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment insurance fell last week for a second straight week, an indication that the coronavirus had not yet hit the labour market in a major way.