Over the past 10 years, Bay Street’s best-rated stocks failed to beat the S&P/TSX composite index.Mark Blinch/The Globe and Mail
Weed Kings: Rob Baker, lead guitarist for the Tragically Hip, is chatting about the surging market for cannabis-company stocks. It's high dough – some might say too high. The short-term gains make things all the more interesting for Mr. Baker, king of the northern power chord, and now a stakeholder in the weed sector. Story (Jeffrey Jones and Christina Pellegrini, for subscribers)
Cross-border promo: Federal Liberals are promoting the Canada Infrastructure Bank to the Trump administration as a way to fund large cross-border projects. Story (Bill Curry, for subscribers)
Follow the money: The popularity of exchange-traded funds continues to accelerate in Canada at a record-breaking rate. Last year, more than $26-billion flowed into ETFs, up 56 per cent from the previous annual record set in 2016. Story (Clare O'Hara)
DEALS WRAP
Bitcoin miner financing: Canadian bitcoin mining company Hut 8 Mining Corp. says it has raised $38-million in a private placement as it prepares to go public through a reverse takeover this quarter. Story (Alexandra Posadzki, for subscribers)
Tech IPO: Dropbox Inc., the file-sharing private company valued at $10-billion (U.S.), has filed confidentially for a U.S. initial public offering, people familiar with the matter said. Story
Toronto shut out: Saudi Arabia has shortlisted New York, London and Hong Kong – singly or in a combination of two or even all three – for the international portion of the listing of national oil company Aramco, two sources with knowledge of the discussions said. Story
U.S. venture financing: Unbabel, a machine translation platform that uses humans to verify translated content, has raised $23-million (U.S.) in a series B round of funding from Microsoft Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Samsung Next, Scale Venture Partners, Notion Capital, Caixa Capital, and Funders Club. VentureBeat
FINANCIAL SERVICES WRAP
Insurance beat: The ride-hailing company Uber is considering giving Winnipeg a pass over concerns about insurance rates its drivers may have to pay to operate. Story
Sabia and Flatt: Canada's economy isn't at major risk even if Donald Trump follows through on threats to withdraw from NAFTA, said the heads of two of the country's largest asset managers. Michael Sabia of Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec and Bruce Flatt of Brookfield Asset Management Inc. speaking Wednesday in a panel discussion in Toronto, responded to news that Canadian government officials see an increasing chance the U.S. president will give six months notice to withdraw. Story
WHAT WE'RE READING ELSEWHERE
Proxy business: Congress has moved closer to potentially reforming the proxy advisory business, with advocates and opponents of change gearing up for battle. IR Magazine
Poof: Twenty-seven billion dollars has gone missing on Wall Street. For more than a decade, the world's top investment banks practically minted money from the buying and selling of bonds, currencies and other complex securities. Now, a combination of tough regulations, new technologies, calm markets and changing customer behavior has left that type of trading a shadow of its former self. New York Times
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