National Business

HALIFAX — After the pandemic prompted the cancellation of most of his concerts for 2020, Dave Gunning decided to raise laying hens on his rural Nova Scotia property. He immediately ran into a problem: Chicken wire was nowhere to be found.

HOUSTON — In car lines that can stretch half a mile (0.8 kilometres ), workers who lost jobs because of the coronavirus pandemic and other needy people receive staggering amounts of food distributed by the Houston Food Bank.

HONG KONG — The world’s largest fintech company, China's Ant Group, will try to raise nearly $35 billion in a massive public offering of stock that would shatter records.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Sales of new homes fell by 3.5% in September to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 959,000 million units, the Commerce Department said Monday, as the housing market's hot summer buying season cooled.

MONTREAL — Bombardier Inc. will receive less cash than it originally had agreed to in the sale of its aerostructures business to Spirit AeroSystems Holding Inc.

TORONTO — Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust Inc. says it has signed a deal to buy Simply Self Storage from a Brookfield Asset Management real estate fund for approximately US$1.2 billion.

TORONTO — Brookfield Business Partners LP has signed a deal to buy the remaining interest in Genworth MI Canada Inc. that it does not already own in an offer that values the company at about $3.8 billion.

BERLIN — German business confidence has declined for the first time after five straight monthly increases as coronavirus infections rebound across Europe, a closely watched survey showed Monday.

BEIJING — China's government said Monday it will impose sanctions on U.S. military contractors including Boeing Co.'s defence unit and Lockheed Martin Corp.

CANBERRA, Australia — Melbourne, Australia’s former coronavirus hot spot, will largely emerge from a lockdown after the nation’s second-largest city on Monday recorded its first day without a new coronavirus case in more than four months.