National Business

TORONTO — Canada's main stock index recovered from early losses Thursday as increased crude oil prices propelled the energy sector and loonie higher. The S&P/TSX composite index gained 33.48 points to 17,593.

MONTREAL — Payments companies MasterCard and Visa say they will no longer allow their cards to be used on Pornhub, a website owned by the Montreal-based company Mindgeek.

Airbnb proved its resilience in a year that has upended global travel. Now it needs to prove it can live up to investors’ sky-high expectations. The San Francisco-based home sharing company made a triumphant debut on the public market Thursday.

TORONTO — A deputy governor of the Bank of Canada says the central bank is monitoring rising housing prices, as it keeps interest rates low to help borrowers cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government's deficit in the first two months of the budget year ran 25.1% higher than the same period a year ago as spending to deal with the COVID pandemic soared while tax revenues fell.

Empire Co. Ltd. reported its second-quarter profit and sales rose compared with a year ago as it announced plans to expand its Voila online grocery service to Alberta.

TORONTO — Hudson's Bay Co. is asking an Ontario court to review the province's decision to temporarily close non-essential retailers in Toronto and Peel Region.

OTTAWA — Canada's maple syrup harvest hit a record high of 14.3 million gallons this year, despite shutdowns during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, Statistics Canada said on Thursday. This year's harvest was 8.

MONTREAL — The Caisse de depot et placement is ceding control of Quebec's McInnis Cement plant to a Brazilian conglomerate after provincial taxpayers lost several hundred million dollars on the project.

TORONTO — Canadian businesses owned by Indigenous women have been steadily growing, but that progress is being threatened by COVID-19 and other systemic barriers, say researchers behind a new study.