National Business

TORONTO — The Investment Funds Institute of Canada says fund holdings dropped by about 10 per cent in March from a month earlier, as investors worried about the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

VANCOUVER — A group of companies and its founders have been fined nearly $37 million by a B.C. Securities Commission panel that says they misled investors, conducted unregistered trading and illegally sold securities.

Calgary-based energy companies are continuing to reduce production, cut spending and trim costs as volatile oil prices remain stubbornly below profitable levels. Enerplus Corp.

Delta Air Lines, the biggest and most profitable U.S. airline, lost $534 million in the first quarter, a setback that will appear trivial when the full force of the pandemic is revealed in the current quarter.

TORONTO — The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board says home sales were down 69 per cent in the first 17 days of April compared with a year ago as the COVID-19 outbreak put a chill on market activity.

OTTAWA — The annual pace of inflation in Canada posted its biggest one-month decline in more than a decade, dropping below one per cent in March as the price of oil collapsed and the economy was first gripped by the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of Canada's largest grocery store chains has seen sales level off after the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic sent shoppers flocking to grocery stores, but Metro Inc.

NEW YORK — Alex Rodriguez, once again, wants to be like Derek Jeter. A-Rod and Jennifer Lopez, who are engaged, have retained J.P. Morgan to represent them in raising capital for a possible bid for the New York Mets.

OTTAWA — Canada's national annual inflation rate was 0.9 per cent in March, Statistics Canada reports.

OTTAWA — Canada's national annual inflation rate was 0.9 per cent in March, Statistics Canada says. Here's what happened in the provinces (previous month in brackets): — Newfoundland and Labrador: 0.1 per cent (1.7) — Prince Edward Island: 0.4 (2.