National Business

TORONTO — North American stock markets marched higher to end the week despite historically bad jobs numbers resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 132.87 points at 14,966.56 to end the week 2.

TORONTO — Postmedia Network Canada Corp. expects to qualify for at least $20.3 million in COVID-related emergency wage subsidies from the federal government, the owner of Canada's largest newspaper chain said Friday.

FREDERICTON — New Brunswick is allowing more businesses and services to reopen as it launches the next phase of the province's COVID-19 recovery plan.

VAUGHAN, Ont. — The parent company of Swiss Chalet and other chains saw a more than $100-million drop in sales in its most recent quarter due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which prompted Recipe Unlimited Corp.

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada reported Friday that the economy lost nearly two million jobs in April and the unemployment rate soared to 13.0 per cent as the full force of the pandemic hit.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. unemployment rate hit 14.7% in April, the highest rate since the Great Depression, as 20.5 million jobs vanished in the worst monthly loss on record.

TORONTO — Hydro One Ltd. reported a first-quarter profit of $225 million, up from a profit of $171 million a year ago.

TORONTO — Brookfield Property Partners says it swung to a net loss in the first quarter as it adjusted asset values across its portfolio. The company, a subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management Inc.

OTTAWA — Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says construction of multi-unit housing projects remained strong in some provinces last month despite the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. CMHC estimates a 10.

OTTAWA — Canada's national unemployment rate was 13.0 per cent in April. Here are the jobless rates last month by province (numbers from the previous month in brackets): — Newfoundland and Labrador 16.0 per cent (11.7) — Prince Edward Island 10.8 (8.