Here are five things you need to know this morning
First increase in home sales in GTA in six months: Home sales in the Greater Toronto Area rose on a year-over-year basis in March for the first time in six months, while average selling prices moved lower again. The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board says 5,039 homes changed hands in March, up 1.7 per cent from the same month last year, marking the first increase since last September. Sales also increased 1.4 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis from February. TRREB president Daniel Steinfeld says it’s an “encouraging” sign to see activity start to grow, suggesting more households are seeking to take advantage of improved affordability. The average selling price was down 6.7 per cent from March 2025 to $1,017,796, and the composite benchmark price, meant to represent the typical home, was down 7.4 per cent year-over-year. There were 14,442 new listings on the market in March, down 16.7 per cent from last year. Inventory decreased eight per cent as there were 21,596 total active listings in the Greater Toronto Area.
Markets await next Trump move: Crude oil futures hovered around $111 a barrel, and stock futures edged up, reversing earlier falls as investors remained on edge ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Tuesday night deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Trump threatened to take out Iran “in one night” if a deal wasn’t made before the deadline. However, he also said Iran was an “active, willing participant” in wanting to reach a deal. “Markets walk a fine line between escalation fears and cease-fire hopes, with a new deadline looming,” Commerzbank said. The dollar turned lower and Treasury yields stabilized after pushing higher earlier. “While the energy shock could indeed temporarily boost inflation, we believe that a return to the inflation rates seen in 2022 is unlikely ‚” Russell Investments said. The CPI report for March on Friday is unlikely to change the Federal Reserve’s mind about holding interest rates steady at its upcoming meeting, it added.
U.S. sees spike in supertanker heading its way: The number of supertankers headed to the U.S. in the coming three months jumped to the highest in at least eight years, according to tanker-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. About 63 tankers are bound for the US over the coming 90 days in data captured Friday. That’s the highest since at least mid-2017 when Bloomberg started counting VLCCs and ULCCs combined.
Barrick Mining recommendation cut: ATB Capital analyst Richard Gray cut the recommendation on Barrick Mining Corp. to sector perform from outperform. PT set to $70, implies a 22 per cent increase from last price. It comes a day after Barrick announced it was slowing development at its Reko Diq project in Pakistan over security concerns. The company says the decision comes as it continues a review of the project that it announced in February following an escalation of security risks and increased security incidents. The company says it expects that there could be significant increases to the previously disclosed total estimated capital budget and timeline for the project.
Taylor Swift music label may be sold: Billionaire activist Bill Ackman has proposed a complicated deal for Universal Music Group NV, the world’s largest music company, which houses the likes of Taylor Swift, Drake and Sabrina Carpenter. His investment firm Pershing Square Capital Management is pushing to combine UMG with a US-based acquisition vehicle that Ackman said would value the record label at €30.40 per share, or the equivalent of about €56 billion (US$64.7 billion). That’s a premium of 78 per cent to the company’s closing share price on Thursday, before the offer was announced. UMG shareholders who agree to the deal will get €9.4 billion in cash, equivalent to about €5.05 per share, plus 0.77 shares of the new company, Pershing Square said in a statement on Tuesday. Representatives for UMG and major shareholder Vivendi SE declined to comment.
