National Business

OTTAWA — Canada's economy appears to have suffered its worst year on record as the national statistics agency's preliminary estimate showed a contraction of 5.1 per cent in 2020.

BEIJING — The former head of a Chinese state-owned asset management company was executed Friday on charges of taking bribes in an unusually severe penalty for a recent corruption case. Lai Xiaomin of China Huarong Asset Management Co.

Caterpillar’s fourth-quarter sales dropped 15% as an unchecked pandemic continued to sap demand for big machinery, but the damage was not as bad as most had expected. Sales were $11.24 billion, down significantly from last year's $13.

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s pandemic-hit economy shrank 8.5% in 2020, the largest single-year drop since 1932 and the second consecutive year of economic contraction. Mexico’s gross domestic product grew 3.

BERLIN — The head of Germany's financial supervisory authority will leave the job as the agency is reorganized in the aftermath of the accounting scandal at payment systems provider Wirecard, the finance ministry said Friday.

MONTREAL — Bombardier Inc. reported lower-than-expected net proceeds from the sale of its rail business to Alstom, attributing the decline to the division's lower cash generation in the fourth quarter.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes declined slightly for the fourth straight month, but it was still a record high for December. The National Association of Realtors' index of pending home sales dipped 0.

WASHINGTON — U.S. consumers slowed their spending by 0.2% in December, cutting back for a second straight month in a worrisome sign for an economy struggling under the weight of a still out-of-control pandemic.

PORTLAND, Maine — There once was a tune that tickled the Internet's fancy/When TikTok revived the humble sea shanty/The views came fast, the fad could last/Go, read about it go: ___ People are stuck at home, toiling away, getting bored, going stir cr

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A liquid nitrogen leak at a northeast Georgia poultry plant killed six people Thursday and sent 11 others to the hospital, officials said.