National Business

CALGARY — Enerplus Corp. is increasing its bets on the Bakken light oil region in North Dakota with the purchase of a private rival for US$465 million, despite a legal fight that could shut down a major oil pipeline there.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is set to announce a wide-ranging moratorium on new oil and gas leasing on U.S.

One year ago, hosting a pizza party with co-workers or showing up to work with stomach bug symptoms were unthinkable in terms of fireable offences.

Calgary home sales, prices and new listings might be headed for a slight increase in 2021, but they’re likely still bound to be hampered by COVID-19 and reduced demand for oil, the city’s most prominent housing organization predicted Tuesday.

OTTAWA — Canada's housing authority says retail, construction and services workers were the most common deferrers of mortgage payments in the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic. New data from Canada's Mortgage and Housing Corp.

Internet users across the northeast U.S. reported widespread outages Tuesday. Verizon reported a cut fiber in Brooklyn via Twitter, although it’s not clear if that issue is responsible for the entire outage.

TORONTO — Loblaw Companies Ltd. is winning praise from a coalition of environmental, health and labour groups for its commitment to stop using receipt paper that contains a potentially dangerous chemical.

WASHINGTON — The spread of COVID-19 vaccines will power a stronger global economic recovery in 2021, the International Monetary Fund forecast Tuesday. After sinking 3.5% in 2020, the worst year since World War II, the global economy will grow 5.

PepsiCo and Beyond Meat are creating a joint venture to develop snacks and drinks made from plant-based proteins. The companies didn’t reveal what kinds of products they will make Tuesday, saying they’re still in development.

WASHINGTON — U.S. consumer confidence rose in January as Americans became more optimistic about the future. The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its consumer confidence index increased to 89.3, a rebound from December when it dipped to 87.1.