National Business

CALGARY — An elevator salesman in Calgary says two months of working from his house in the northwest part of the city have convinced him there's no place like home to conduct business.

SAINT JOHN, N.B. — Irving Oil has signed a deal to buy North Atlantic Refining Corp., including a refinery in Come By Chance, N.L., from U.S. investment firm Silverpeak.

TORONTO — Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce took a nearly $1-billion hit to its second-quarter profit as its provisions for credit losses soared due to the pandemic and the plunge in oil prices.

WASHINGTON — U.S. orders for big-ticket factory goods plunged for the second straight month in April as the coronavirus pandemic hammered the economy. The Commerce Department said Thursday that orders for durable goods dropped 17.

TOKYO — Japanese automaker Nissan plans to close auto plants in Spain and Indonesia after sinking into the red for the first time in 11 years as the pandemic squashed global demand and disrupted production.

Boeing is cutting more than 12,000 U.S. jobs through layoffs and buyouts as the coronavirus pandemic seizes the travel industry. And the aircraft maker says more cuts are coming.

LOS ANGELES — An investigation of Gabrielle Union’s complaints of racism on the set of “America’s Got Talent” concluded that her allegations were unfounded, according to NBC and the show’s producers.

The winner, and still champion, is CBS. The Tiffany network finished the traditional television season, which ended last week, as the most-watched broadcaster for the 12th consecutive year, the Nielsen company said.

TORONTO — With sheer optimism and a considerable amount of uncertainty ahead of them, two Toronto businessmen with strong political ties are betting on returning the languished Torstar Corp.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The launch of a SpaceX rocket ship with two NASA astronauts on a history-making flight into orbit was called off with less than 17 minutes to go in the countdown Wednesday because of thunderclouds and the risk of lightning.