National Business

NEW YORK — More than 5,000 chief executives globally expressed record optimism about economic growth a year after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, suggests a PwC survey.

MONTREAL — Transat AT Inc. expects to resume its operations around mid-June, during the high summer season, the travel company said Thursday as it reported its latest financial results.

FRANKFURT — German luxury automaker BMW says net profit fell 23% last year to 3.86 billion euros ($4.62 billion) as the pandemic shuttered factories in the first part of the year.

FRANKFURT — The European Central Bank said it would step up its bond-purchase stimulus to support an economy whose recovery is expected to lag a year behind the rebound in the U.S.

WestJet Airlines Ltd. says it has cancelled orders for 15 Boeing 737 Max aircraft as the industry-wide downturn in aviation continues. The cancellations leave WestJet with 27 Max aircraft remaining on order, the company says.

The biggest IPO in years is rolling out Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange where Coupang, the South Korean equivalent of Amazon in the U.S., or Alibaba in China, will begin trading under the ticker “CPNG.

WASHINGTON — The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week to 712,000, the lowest total since early November, evidence that fewer employers are cutting jobs amid a decline in confirmed coronavirus cases and signs of an improvin

TORONTO — Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP says Inter Pipeline Ltd. hasn't provided evidence to support its call for a higher alternative to the $7.1 billion hostile takeover bid that Brookfield announced last month.

TORONTO — A shortage of video game consoles during the COVID-19 pandemic has been highly lucrative for resellers like Rick Charles. The 25-year-old project manager has made as much as $500 profit on the sale of each coveted new PlayStation 5.

VANCOUVER — Premium Brands Holdings Corp. raised its dividend as it reported its fourth-quarter profit and revenue rose compared with a year ago. The specialty food company increased its quarterly dividend to 63.5 cents per share, up from 57.