Today's news: Trending business stories for January 19, 2024

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Best Buy Canada and Bell Canada have announced a partnership to rebrand and relaunch 165 The Source stores.

The Source, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bell, will be rebranded as Best Buy Express and stores are expected to begin opening in the second half of 2024, the companies said.

The small store also offers consumer electronics as well as wired and wireless services from Bell, Virgin Plus and Lucky Mobile.

Best Buy and Bell will invest in store renovations and expand product selections.

There are currently just under 300 The Source stores, and those that are not rebranded are scheduled to close in 2024, Bell spokeswoman Rachel Jaskra said.

Best Buy Canada President Ron Wilson said in a press release that the partnership expands the electronics retailer's national presence.

canadian press

7:30am

Stock market before the opening bell

U.S. futures on Friday signaled further gains on Wall Street following a tech-driven rally that pushed the Nasdaq 100 to record highs.

Nasdaq 100 contracts rose about 0.7% and S&P 500 futures rose 0.4%. Chipmakers were the biggest gainers in premarket trading, with Advanced Micro Devices up 2% and Intel up 1.2%. Texas Instruments rose more than 2% after maintaining its quarterly dividend.

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The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 0.1%, narrowing the week's decline to 1.2%. The technology subsector further advanced as prospects for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing boosted hopes for a recovery in global chip sales. Swiss electronics maker ABB fell in its industrial subsector after U.S. lawmakers said they were reviewing its China operations.

U.S. Treasuries were little changed, with the U.S. dollar lower after an enthusiastic hike in policy forecasts earlier in the week. Investors will be paying close attention to today's Federal Reserve speakers for further clues about the timing and extent of rate cuts. Traders now see the outlook for March easing as little more than a coin flip, down from nearly 80% at the end of last week.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index ended Thursday up 0.30%.

bloomberg

what will you see today

Financial Institutions Supervisor Peter Routledge will speak this morning at the TD Securities Annual Financial Services Conference in Toronto.

This morning, retail sales figures for November were released. December US existing home sales numbers and the University of Michigan Consumer Confidence Index will also be announced.

Need a refresher on yesterday's top headlines? Get caught up here.

Additional reporting from The Canadian Press, Associated Press and Bloomberg

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